Elaine Wong Distinguished Lecture Program
Elaine Wong worked at Brandeis for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2021. Over the decades, she was central to the creation and launch of many major programs and initiatives, including the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance, Generation One Network, Justice Brandeis Seminar, the Brandeis Core and the Community Engaged Scholars Program. She contributed to numerous diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives throughout her career.
The Elaine Wong Distinguished Lecture program celebrates Elaine's enduring impact on Brandeis. The annual event explores racial, class, gender, sexual and other forms of injustice and inequality; showcases historically marginalized people and perspectives; and/or promotes a diverse, inclusive environment.
Past Lectures
Media in a Divided America
Brandeis University hosted an engaging discussion featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning N.Y. Times editor Dean Baquet, along with panelists Gary Gerstle and Sarah Sobieraj, as they explored the roots and solutions to a divided America.
Speakers and Moderators:
Event 1
- Dean Baquet, the pioneering former top editor of The New York Times
- Moderated by: Ann Silvio, Adriana Lacy and Paul Anskat
- Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order
- Sarah Sobieraj, a sociologist studying media, political culture, and digital harassment
- Moderated by: Neil Swidey
Why It Is Not OK to Ask “Where Are You From?”: Racism and Asian American History
This symposium explored the history of anti-Asian racism in the United States. With the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the United States discriminated against a specific race in its immigration and naturalization policies for the first time in its history. Chinese were viewed by White ethnics to be vile, infidels, uncultured, and unassimilable. These policies were not lifted until 1943, preventing countless Chinese from legally settling into the United States, after decades of using Chinese laborers to extract natural resources and build railroads. The racist sentiments became ingrained and created the impression of Chinese as the perpetual aliens in America. Similar policies were used against other Asian groups such as Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians, and Filipinos. Also notorious was the internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II. Asians and even Asian Americans born in the United States are too often asked “Where are you from?” “Where are you really from?” The scapegoating of Asians during the Covid pandemic is an extension of this alienage. This symposium brought together authoritative voices on Asian American representation in government, mass media, and the arts.
Speakers:
- Evelyn Yang: Author, advocate, wife of former Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang on "AAPI Politics and Campaign Life"
- Lori Kido Lopez: Professor in Media and Cultural Studies and Director of the Asian American Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison on "The Role of Media in Anti-Asian Racism and Asian American Activism"
- jason chu: Rapper, activist, educator on "Asian American Soul: Appropriation, Appreciation & Participation"
The Elaine Wong Distinguished Lecture Program is sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Affairs. Additional support this year is provided by the Department of Fine Arts, the International Business School, Asian American & Pacific Islander Studies, and East Asian Studies.