<html>
<body>
Dear All,<br><br>
During the last two weeks, CSSA has been focused on addressing the
"Visualizing Cultures" issue through communication with the
Professors, the MIT administration, and the research team. After serious
discussion with all parties involved, we have been able to reach an
agreement and have also worked constructively with the research team to
better put those materials into context. In this process, a lot of people
have raised interesting and constructive points to solve the problem.
Your support has been tremendous. We thank you very much for that. Here
we would like to take this opportunity to summarize what we did and what
we have accomplished in order to give you a complete picture.
Details on letters and statements can be found at the end of this
email.<br><br>
Immediately after we received some complaints from our students about the
MIT Spotlight on "Visualizing Cultures", we sent out an email
to collect further response and suggestions. After we collected a lot of
responses, CSSA board decided to present a formal complaint letter to the
MIT administration and the professors. We did this on Tuesday. At the
same time, we send out email to announce the progress of our dialogue
with the professors with emphasis on the promotion of constructive
dialogue. Two meetings took place between some students and the
professors on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon. On
Thursday morning, CSSA officially met with the professors and MIT
administration to present our point of view and reached an
agreement. During a later meeting in the afternoon on the same day,
CSSA worked closely with MIT and the research team on the three joint
statements released that day. See below for CSSA's statement and
the<br>
MIT website for statements from MIT and the research team.<br><br>
On Friday, MIT's newspaper the Tech presented a misleading and biased
reporting of the issue. This irresponsible journalism could have
a<br>
potentially damaging effect for all parties involved. CSSA went to
talk with the Editor in Chief of the Tech. We finally agreed that the
report had a serious problem and needed to be corrected, which resulted
in a correction note and a more balanced reporting about the agreement in
<br>
Tuesday (May 2) issue. The online version of the original Friday (April
28) issue was also accompanied by a correction note on top of <br>
it.<br><br>
Last Thursday (May 4), we met again with the Chancellor and the research
team. They presented the changes they made and listened carefully to our
suggestions. We expect the relaunch of the website very soon.
We were informed that very likely there would be an online feedback
system on the website. Also, as mentioned earlier in CSSA's
statement, the Committee on Campus Race Relations (CCRR) is currently
organizing a panel discussion on visual imagery on May 11th. CSSA
strongly encourages members to provide constructive suggestions and
feedbacks via these channels upon carefully reviewing the materials after
the re-launch. <br><br>
As we emphasized many times before, we encourage healthy and open
discussion about this issue. However, we are opposed to any irrational
<br>
behavior. Let us know if you have any further comments or
questions.<br><br>
Best Regards<br>
MIT CSSA<br><br>
Attachments:<br>
1. Official Letter to the professors and MIT administration<br>
2. Announcement about the dialogue information<br>
3. Statement from CSSA to inform the Agreement among the parties
involved<br><br>
<b>Open Letter to the Professors and MIT administration<br><br>
</b>Dear President Susan Hockfield, <br><br>
Though we are the Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA), we come
from an assortment of backgrounds and cultures. We value the
diversity within our own group, and we are most grateful for the support
and benefits the culturally-diverse MIT microcosm has afforded us and our
members. However, the "Throwing off Asia" exhibit
recently Spotlighted on MIT's homepage has shaken our confidence in the
cultural sensitivity we have come to associate with this accepting
environment. The exhibit has left us disappointed at the
nonchalance with which this emotionally provocative and demeaning
material was presented, as we struggle to understand how such negligence
could have been overlooked at the Institute. <br><br>
In particular, the vivid images of the wartime atrocities inflicted on
the Chinese conjured up haunting emotions of loss and rage, not unlike
those emotions people around the world feel toward the much better-known
and more talked-about events of the Holocaust. Already, the outcry
from MIT's Chinese community has been thunderous, and the distress levels
severe. We do understand the historical significance of these wood
prints, and respect the authors' academic freedom to pursue this
study. However, we are appalled at the lack of accessible
explanations and the proper historical context that ought to accompany
these images. <br><br>
Phrases featured prominently at the top of the page under <i>Old China,
New Japan</i> include "<i>Still, predictable patterns give order to
this chaos. Discipline (the Japanese side) prevails over disarray (the
Chinese)</i>," and "<i>In short, the Chinese are riotous in
every way disgracefully so in their behavior, and delightfully so in
their accoutrements.</i>" The only circumstance under which
these very racially-charged statements might be possibly acceptable is if
they are being used to describe the depictions of the images. Yet
at first glance, that purpose is far from obvious; instead, the text
seems to suggest that it is reporting history itself. The issue of
the blatant racism so prominently exhibited in these images and
descriptions is not addressed until much further down the page, almost at
the end of the article. <br><br>
In light of this, we at the CSSA would like to request the
following:<br><br>
1) The authors should provide the proper historical context for the
prints as an introductory paragraph at the top of the page. This
text should include warnings stating that the images are graphical in
nature and could be potentially emotionally-damaging. This text
should also address the racist sentiment and provide the historical
perspective (the woodprints' wartime propaganda nature), with which it
encourages readers to bear in mind when browsing through the pages.
<br><br>
2) MIT should pay special attention to the presentation of
culturally-demeaning content, particularly to its emotionally-damaging
potential. As materials in MIT's lauded Open Course Ware, this
online exhibit is accessible by anyone with a computer and an internet
connection anywhere around the world. Is this careless disregard
for cultural sentiments what MIT wants the world to believe to be MIT's
"visualization" of cultures? Is this cultural
insensitivity what MIT wants to associate with its quality and breadth of
classes?<br><br>
While we are particularly sensitive to the exhibit's contents, we are
certainly aware of their historical significance. We have no doubt
that the authors do not endorse the wood prints' contents in any way
beyond their artistic and historical value. Nevertheless, we cannot
condone the irresponsible nature in which such material has been
presented. An exhibit should provoke discussion / debate, but in
this case, it could have been done in a more delicate manner that would
not involve offending the entire Chinese community. We are ready to
confront the past, but we believe that authors have a paramount duty to
delivering proper guidance as well. <br><br>
We welcome continued conversations on this issue, and we eagerly await
your response. <br><br>
Best Regards<br><br>
Huan Zhang, President of MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association (MIT
CSSA)<br>
Lin Han, Vice President of MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association
(MIT CSSA)<br><br>
04/25/2006<br><br>
Website:
<a href="http://cssa.mit.edu/" eudora="autourl">http://cssa.mit.edu</a><br><br>
<b>Announcement about the dialogue information<br><br>
</b>Dear CSSA members,<br><br>
As we said in the last email, CSSA is in the process of serious
conversation with the institute administration to deal with the
controversial homepage issues. The administration and the professors are
taking this issue very seriously and working hard to solve the problem.
As a student group, we appreciate the prompt action from the institute
and would like to see this issue solved as soon as possible.<br><br>
Many of you have contacted the related people to express your feelings
and concerns, which have been well received. As you may notice, the Open
Course Ware materials have been taken down for investigation.<br><br>
However, CSSA strongly advise the participants not to use any personal
attacks, physical threats, or irrational behaviors in tomorrow's meeting.
On the other hand, CSSA would suggest you to express your opinion through
proper channel by rational means.<br><br>
Furthermore, the professors have informed us that they welcome any open
discussion about this issue. As some of you might have already known,
they will be available at 5:00PM tomorrow afternoon at 14N-310 if you
want to have a discussion with them.<br><br>
Again, as a student group, CSSA is up for rational open discussion and
not supporting any irrational behavior. Let us know if you have any
concerns.<br><br>
Best Regards<br><br>
Huan and Lin<br><br>
<b>Official Statement from CSSA regarding the "Visualizing
Culture" issues<br><br>
<br>
</b>Dear CSSA Members and Other Members of the Chinese Community
Worldwide,<br><br>
Earlier this morning, the MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association
(CSSA) had an in-depth discussion with the MIT administration on the
issue of the Visualizing Cultures website, specifically the
"Throwing Off Asia" unit. This is a scholarly research project,
and there is no art exhibition associated with it. Representatives from
the President's Office, the MIT News Office, and the research group
behind the website were all present. The meeting has resulted in a
constructive agreement.<br><br>
The research group recognized the need to contextualize these sensitive
materials and pledged to continue a dialogue with CSSA and other groups
to address this issue.<br><br>
Professors Dower and Miyagawa have expressed deep regret over the
emotional distress caused by some of the imagery and are genuinely sorry
that the website has caused pain within the Chinese community.<br><br>
The agreed resolution is as follows:<br><br>
1. Official statements from both MIT and Professors Dower and Miyagawa,
which will be posted as a link off the MIT home page shortly and
permanently reside on the MIT News Office website, and distributed to the
Chinese community worldwide.<br><br>
2. Organize a public forum to facilitate a discussion on the use of
sensitive imagery. The Committee on Campus Race Relations (CCRR) is
currently organizing a panel discussion on visual imagery that is
scheduled to take place in early May (date and location to be
determined).<br><br>
3. The Visualizing Cultures research team will address how it
contextualizes sensitive content by providing appropriate language to
prepare users for the graphic material depicted. The research team is
looking to CSSA for feedback and future dialogue.<br><br>
As stated previously, CSSA is strongly opposed to any irrational
behavior. Any feedback from individuals on this issue is
welcome.<br><br>
Best regards,<br>
MIT Chinese Student and Scholar Association<br>
Huan Zhang, President<br>
Lin Han, Vice President<br>
</body>
</html>