Today’s Michigan Daily has an interesting story that sheds light on the evolving politics within the larger Asian American community. There is a secret society at The University of Michigan known as “Michigamua.” It is pretty much modeled after “Skull and Bones” at Yale, right down to their use of Native American artifacts. It existed at time I attended Michigan and my Indian friends mostly disapproved of its existence, although a couple of acquaintances of ours were in it. Many see it as an elitist organization modeled after other such organizations that help to maintain a white male patriarchy. Others see it as a way for minority communities to become part of the “establishment” by wielding the supposed power and influence that comes with membership (President Gerald Ford was a member). Recently, both the president of the Indian American Students Association and the co-chair of SAAN (where I was invited to speak earlier this year) were outed as members of this secret society. This prompted the following demand from the United Asian American Organizations, an influential umbrella group on campus:
United Asian American Organizations, a congress of 37 Asian/Pacific Islander student groups, passed a resolution last month insisting that the senior society meet five demands by the beginning of winter semester.
If it does not, UAAO promised to oust two member groups – the South Asian Awareness Network and the Indian American Student Association…“Michigamua fails to prove to the campus community that they are no longer a racist establishment. The only way they could prove this is through transparency, a method they do not employ at this time,” UAAO executive board members wrote in a statement. “Because of this lack of transparency, United Asian American Organizations has taken steps to ensure the safety of the student of color community to which we belong…” [Link]
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p>Let me translate and paraphrase in my own words: “You stand either with the racist establishment or you stand with other Asians of color.” It doesn’t appear likely that the browns want to quit though:
Members of IASA declined to comment for this article, but it appears their group does not intend to force Pai, the group’s president, to quit the society. It also seems unlikely that they will force him to resign.
SAAN has no intentions of barring its leaders from the society, said Shah, SAAN co-chair and society member.
“At this time, SAAN’s central planning team has decided to give the opportunity to the organization formerly known as Michigamua to implement the changes it promised last year,” he said. [Link]
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p>Also, a second quick note about Michigan:
GO BLUE!!!!!! It’s on tomorrow! The only game that matters.
Current Speaker Bios For SAAN 2007
Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He is also a journalist and political activist. Mr. Gandhi, a research professor at the Centre for Policy Studies in New Delhi, India, has written widely on the Indian independence movement and its leaders, India-Pakistan relations, human rights, and conflict resolution. He has held appointments as visiting professor in the United States and Japan and received honorary degrees from universities in Canada, Japan, and the Kyrgyz Republic. Professor Gandhi also served as a member of the Upper House of India’s Parliament and led the Indian government delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission annual meeting in Geneva. Professor Gandhi’s biography of his grandfathers, “The Good Boatman: A Portrait of Gandhi” was published in 1995, and Rajaji: A Life in 1997. His scholarly record, however, extends beyond his lineage. His major publications include a biography of Indian freedom fighter and statesman Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Eight Lives: A Study of the Hindu-Muslim Encounter. His latest work Revenge and Reconciliation: Understanding South Asian History has just been published. His research includes the history and current state of South Asia, Hindu-Muslim and India-Pakistan relations, and ethnic tensions and their resolution. He has been actively involved with Initiatives of Change for the last several decades.
Urvashi Vaid Urvashi Vaid is a community organizer and grass-roots activist who has been involved in the gay/lesbian and feminist movements since the early 1980s. Her most prominent position was as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), one of the nation’s oldest and most influential gay rights organizations. She served as executive director for three years and worked as that organization’s director of public information for an additional three years. Vaid has not limited her community service to gay/lesbian rights, however. She is a former staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she worked on behalf of prisoners in the ACLU’s National Prison Project. She described what she sees as the nature of her work for Vanity Fair, explaining, “The movement I work in might be called a gay and lesbian movement, but its mission is the liberation of all people. To me, my mission is about ending sexism, about ending racism, and about ending homophobia.”
Poonam Arora
Poonam Arora (Ph.D. SUNY Binghamton) is the Chair of the Humanities Department at U-M Dearborn and specializes in film, gender studies, narrative theory and post colonial studies, joined the faculty in 1989. Her professional experience extends to writing on south Asian cinema (Bollywood), ethnographic film, women filmmakers and script writing. In addition to teaching courses in the Film Studies program, she teaches courses in Women’s Studies, the Masters in Liberal Arts, and the African/African-American Studies programs.
Subodh Chandra
Before running for a Democratic candidate for Ohio Attorney General earlier this year, Subodh Chandra just completed service as Director of Law of the City of Cleveland, a billion-dollar corporation. Chandra led the work of an 82-lawyer department with both criminal and civil divisions. He also served as acting mayor in the mayor’s absence. As Cleveland’s general counsel, Chandra slashed by nearly 90% spending on outside counsel, saving millions of dollars. Under Chandra’s leadership, Cleveland handled legal work in-house, and moved vigorously through in-house investigations to clean up corruption, including bribery schemes involving city inspectors and purchasing officials. With a relentless focus on excellence and accountability, Chandra restored the reputation the department, and attracted top performers who helped make it the most diverse law firm in Ohio. Chandra is a graduate of the Yale Law School, where he was executive editor of the ‘Yale Law & Policy Review’. He also graduated with honors and distinction from Stanford University. Stanford awarded him the John Gardner Fellowship to work with Governor Richard F. Celeste to train young leaders from newly emerging democracies in Central & Eastern Europe in the skills required in democracy.
Arpana Inman
Arpana G. Inman received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Temple University and is currently an Assistant Professor at Lehigh University , Pennsylvania , in the Counseling Psychology Program. Prior to this she was on the faculty at Seton Hall University , New Jersey. Her scholastic and research interests are in the areas of multicultural issues and Asian American concerns. Specifically, these interests span several topics including acculturation, South Asian immigrant and second generation cultural experiences, ethnic and racial identities, the psychology of women and supervision and training. She has presented nationally and internationally at several conferences and published in these different areas. Dr. Inman is also the recipient of the 2002 Jeffrey S. Tanaka Memorial Dissertation Award in Psychology, APA Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA). She recently co-founded a listserve for South Asian Concerns called SAPNA (South Asian Psychological Networking Association). Dr. Inman was the Co-Chair for the Division on Women, AAPA, from 2002-2003 and the Vice President for the Asian American Psychological Association from 2003-2005. She is currently the Vice President for the Asian American Pacific Islander Special Interest group within the Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development in ACA.
Moushumi Khan
Moushumi Khan graduated from Mount Holyoke College cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1993. There she studied Critical Social Thought. She spent a year doing a General Course at the London School of Economics in England in 1991 where she studied Government. Ms. Khan received her JD from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996. She has had extensive experience in the non-profit, economic development and law sectors. She worked for the Grameen Bank, the world’s premier micro-lending institution, in Bangladesh as well as helped set up the Grameen Foundation in Washington DC. She has worked for non-profits and a law firm in Washington D.C. before moving to New York. She is a co-founder and the President of the Muslim Bar Association of New York. Since February 2001 Moushumi has been in solo practice in New York City, concentrating on civil rights and corporate law. Her clients include the local Bangladeshi and immigrant populations, among others. Since September 11, she has spoken extensively on civil rights issues and their impact on the Muslim and immigrant populations. Ms. Khan is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Khan grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dr. Vastupal Parikh
Dr. Parikh is a professor of Chemistry and was possibly the first Jain to settle in Canada. Author of “Jainism and the New Spirituality”.The book explains principles and practices of Jainism in a simple lucid language and links this ancient religion with the modern concepts of spirituality. The author proposes that Jainism represents a new spirituality – one that has at its core the human and animal rights, social justice, and environment. The book will be a valuable reading for anyone interested in spiritual values, world religions, multi-faith movement, peace, ecology, and social justice.
Sumaya Kazi Sumaya Kazi was named one of BusinessWeek’s Top Young Entrepreneurs of 2006. She is the co-founder of The CulturalConnect, an online media publishing company with a collection of four interlocking Web sites and e-magazines aimed at spotlighting and connecting young minority professionals with each other and to the nonprofit world: The DesiConnect caters to South Asians, then there’s The AsiaConnect, The MidEastConnect, and The LatinConnect. Each of the sites’ content consists largely of profiles and interviews of young minority professionals who are working corporate and nonprofit jobs. The sites’ most popular feature is “The ConnectionPoint,” a tool that allows the reader to network with featured professionals. Kazi’s also the youngest manager in her marketing department at Sun Microsystems.
Raymond Rouf
At the age of 24, Raymond co-founded The CulturalConnect (TCC), an online media publishing powerhouse that distributes four (soon to be five) weekly e-magazines for the young, driven and forward-thinking professional. As Business Director, Raymond drives growth of the 4 magazines (developing advertising and revenue models, business strategies, and overseeing human resources and day-to-day operations). In addition to TCC, Raymond has also co-founded software development company, Prodeant LLC, after graduating college, and recently co-founded an startup investment company.
Mike Ghouse
Mike’s personal mission is to promote goodwill amongst peoples of different affiliations, be it religious, nationalistic, race, linguistic or any stick. He strongly believes that if people can learn to accept and respect other peoples’ god given uniqueness, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. Born and raised in Yelahanka, Bangalore, and influenced by his father’s inherent disposition to treat all people with dignity, Mike grew up enjoying and celebrating all Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh, Parsee and Christian Festivals. He has freed his god from religious confinement cells and has allowed God to be any where and every where and every one’s. He sees Gods greatness in every which way and in every place of worship. He has ready phrases like “Don’t lock up God in any one spot “; “No one owns Jesus, Krishna or Mohamed”: “Ram is not the property of Hindu’s, he belongs to all, Christians don’t own Jesus, he belongs to all”; “Don’t let prejudice stop you from learning all the good you can learn from all religious teachers” By profession, Mike is a Real Estate & Business Consultant with offices in Dallas and Bangalore. He has earned his Master Degree in Commerce from Bangalore University and a Masters in Business from the University of Dallas. Dallas is his home and he enjoys the life with wife Najma, kids, friends and the Subcontinentian Community. He speaks Kannada, Urdu, Hindi, Telugu and a bit of Tamil & Malayalam and part takes in every Subcontinentian activity.
Vijay Chattha
Vijay Chattha, VP for Market Development & PR Vijay is the head of VSC Consulting, a San Francisco based marketing and public relations firm focused in the entertainment and technology realm. VSC has enabled IPSH to gain visibility in The Financial Times, San Jose Mercury News, Hollywood Reporter, PC Magazine, and various other news media. As VP of Development Vijay has also handled human resource recruiting, strategic business development, and partnerships into various other realms for IPSH including the defense and political sphere. Prior to VSC, Vijay has spent over six years developing projects for the lifestyle market converging technology and entertainment. In 1998, Vijay co-founded UrbanGroove Networks, which encompasses thirteen lifestyle related media resources including philly2nite.com; with a focus in business development, fundraising, and sales. Nominated for 2005 Young Professional of the Year Award
Biju Matthew
A Jesse E. Harper Associate Professor of business at Rider University in New Jersey, Dr. Biju Matthew was also an organizer of an illegal New York taxi-drivers strike and is now an active member of the Taxi Workers Alliance. He co-authored with Vijay Prashad an article for the Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India and Marxist organizations. They are both co-founders of the Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL) and members of Youth Solidarity Summer (YSS). He is known to rally against the “rot” of both Indian and U.S. governments, pointing out the financial underpinnings of Hindu nationalism hidden in the Indian professional community of the Diaspora in an extensive network of electronic communication, student organizations, and corporate funding. He speaks out against global capitalism and diasporic identity battles that fund the Hindu right-wing communal violence currently taking place in India.
Premal Shah
Premal Shah is President of Kiva.org – a new online lending marketplace that connects internet users with developing world entrepreneurs in need of low cost capital. Prior to Kiva.org, Premal was a Principal Product Manager at PayPal, an eBay company where he spent 6 years building the world’s largest internet payment network (114 million users in 55 countries — and a current Kiva.org partner). Premal also co-founded the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network and has worked in India at NGOs focused on economic empowerment and microfinance. Premal began his career as a strategy consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in New York and graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Stanford University.