Cory Takiguchi
A03
Week 8
The article “Precariously Positioned: Asian American Women Students Negotiating Power in Academic Wonderland” introduces two young activists, Leslie Do and Shannon DeLoso. Both used their position in academia to fight for a cause they believed in. Through Deloso’s story, I found three processes that went into being a student activist. The first is fear. Initially, everyone is afraid to protest. Standing up against someone who has more power, money, and wisdom than you is scary. In Deloso’s case, she had to stand up against President Wong, someone who reminded her of her own father. Another contributing factor of fear is facing the consequences of your actions. Deloso was afraid that the board might view her as being too vocal, and thus fire her from her position. The next step of being an activist is unity. Deloso was able to find like minded people during her fight. Being around people with a common goal makes fighting administration easier. For example, my friend from high school was the quietest person you’ll ever meet. But once he attended UC Berkeley he started attending every single protest that involved LGBT rights. I believe this is because he found friends with the same passion as him and he felt more confident fighting as team. This leads to the final stage of activism, courage. Courage is the most important factor because it actually involves taking action and blocking out the fear of consequences. Deloso finally decided to fight because she wanted to stand up for her peers who were affected by the budget crisis. The three stages of being a student activism may seem intimidating, but they are essential to conduct a successful protest.
Q: What are your fears about being a student activist? What are the possible rewards?
Do,Leslie & Deloso,Shannon. (n.d). Precariously Positioned: Asian American Women Students Negotiating Power in Academic Wonderland. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
Her Campus National. (n.d). [digital image]. Retrevied November 9, 2017 from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef015391e924b7970b-600wi
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