Remembering Gay Vietnamese Activist and Scholar Quan Nguyen, 1969-2014

Just slightly over a month after a Vietnamese American gay activist passed away, I am shocked to bring the news of another UCI former student and gay Vietnamese activist who passed away: Nguyen Manh Anh Quan passed away from heart failure last Thursday, 13 March 2014, at 8 p.m.

  A smiling Quan Nguyen.  Photo credit: Luan Nguyen.

Quan Nguyen was a brilliant UC Irvine sociology student who entered graduate school at UC Irvine and did his graduate work, also in sociology, on gay liberation.  His 23-year long partner, Bob Tucker told me the horrible news over the weekend.  

I remember the brilliant student who would challenge conventional wisdom, and fight for his rights his entire life. Once, when I was teaching a sexualities class in the political science department at UC Irvine, I invited Quan's lover, Bob, as a guest speaker.  That particular class session got a lot of publicity, namely a write-up in the student paper, New University, not least because Quan, outspoken as he was, wrote to the paper to complain about its coverage (apparently a reporter was in the classroom when Bob spoke). 

In 2010, when queer Vietnamese were that year initially allowed to march in the Tet parade on Bolsa Avenue in Westminster, Quan and Bob drew widespread attention and no doubt notoriety for kissing during the parade.  A photo of that famous kiss by an interracial gay couple, taken by a photographer for the Orange County Register, went viral and was used subsequently by rightwing Vietnamese groups to lobby against allowing gays to march.  It was only last month that organizers of the annual Tet parade caved in to civil liberties concerns and officially ended the ban on gay and lesbian marchers forever.

The famous kiss, Tet parade, Westminster, 2010.  Photo credit: Mindy Schauer

Around that time, Quan, who suffered from encephalopathy, a neurological disorder, filed, together with Bob, an internal disability complaint against UC Irvine.   As is typically, unfortunately, the case, the University ended up dismissing the complaint.  A chance for the University to be caring and loving was missed.

I like to think Quan deserves credit for being a pioneer in sexuality studies at UC Irvine, and for pushing the envelope on that once taboo topic.  He did succeed actually:  The day after he passed away, the University announced it was renaming its Women's Studies Department to be the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies.

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encephalopBob, an internal complaint against the University for disability discrimination; as is usually the case, the complaint was dismissed by the University.  

Bob has released this profile of Quan's life:

Quan Anh Nguyen, 45, passed away suddenly at his home on March 13, 2014 after several years of struggling with encephalopathy, and other health issues. He was with the love of his life and domestic partner of 23 years, Bob Tucker. Quan's never ending love touched his partner, family, friends and the  LGBT community during all of his short life on earth.

Quan was born on March 9, 1969 in Saigon, Vietnam to Thuy and Hung Nguyen. At the end of the Vietnam war his family tried many times to come to America. Everyone finally made it except for his father, whom he loved so much, who was lost at sea among the other 60,000 Boat People who never survived the journey to America. His father, once wrote Quan from a Vietnamese prison, stating, "I want you to feel proud and satisfied with what you achieve for yourself, or done for others, knowing that you've done right."

In America, Quan took to heart his father's message, excelling in school and ultimately graduating  Suma Cum Laude from UCI in 1992, majoring in Sociology. As an "out" and proud gay Vietnamese man, Quan chose to write his Masters Thesis about the LGBT revolution that began at the New York City Stonewall Inn in 1969. He and his partner traveled to NYC in 1994 for the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion where he met and interviewed many of the early LGBT civil rights advocates of the time. He was in awe of their courage and carried that torch forward in his own life. Quan was particularly proud of the time he and his partner Bob kissed while marching in the 2010 Tet Parade in Little Saigon. He was also very proud of the young Vietnamese LGBT activists who picked up the torch again to ensure LGBT inclusion in the Tet Parade in 2014. 

Quan loved the music from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Some of his favorite bands were the Turtles, Donna Summer, Madonna and Boy George. He loved good Vietnamese food and befriended many restauranteurs in Little Saigon.

He lived a full life always in the spirit of love. Quan leaves behind his partner, mother, brother, and an extended loving family who loved him dearly and who accepted him for the loving, caring person he was.

A similar profile appears in an obituary in today's OC Register.

Quan's memorial service will be held at Peek Family Funeral Home,7801 Bolsa Ave, Westminster, CA 92683, on Saturday March 22nd, 2014, from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. The memorial service will start with a visitation, then the eulogy, followed by a Buddhist ceremony.  There is a guest book online.

then eulogy, followed by a Buddhist ceremony.

-- Daniel C. Tsang

New UCI Provost Hiring Condemned by ASUCI

Howard Gillman, the newly appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Irvine, is coming to UCI from USC (where he was a recent dean) and is immediately facing opposition not just from an activist faculty group who went public with a letter, but also, now, from the UCI student body leadership.

Howard Gillman Will Need to Reach Out to Critics

On 30 May 2013 the ASUCI legislative council overwhelmingly voted to "condemn" the appointment and urged Chancellor Michael V. Drake to reverse himself, something not likely to happen.

The activist student group, ESCAPE (Ethnic Students Coalition Against Prejudicial Education), has issued the following press release:

Associated Students of UC Irvine Condemn the Appointment of Howard Gillman 

May 30, 2013—-In a vote of 12-0-1  the Associated Students of UC Irvine (ASUCI) passed a resolution condemning the appointment of the new Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. 

R48-75 “Condemning the Appointment of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Howard Gillman” demands that Chancellor Drake retract the appointment of Howard Gillman and redo the selection process of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost with more student voice and representation.  

Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed as the new Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.

Within the last few weeks, various entities on the UC Irvine Campus expressed grave concern and disappointment of the new appointment, including a coalition of professors, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA). The IFA released a statement stating that “Dean Gillman’s fairness in handling personnel cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into question by reports from USC.”

According to the author of the resolution Summer Ko, “Given our current campus climate, UCI Administration is handling the situation poorly. As the student voice on campus, we could not allow for such a flawed process to be upheld.”

UC Irvine administration claims the selection committee was diverse and well-represented the student body; however, they fallaciously make these claims as there were only 3 students (1 undergrad, and 2 graduate) out of the 23 members, and the fact that that their diversity stems from the claim that racism was not present as there were “6 members of African descent”- a statement of blatant institutional racism.Thus proving, the process of selection  was inherently flawed.

______

Subversities brings readers the complete resolution; the recorded vote below indicates the vote was 12-1-0.

REQUEST FOR ACTION BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Item Number: 91     Legislation Number (B: Bill, R: Resolution): R48-75
Author:   Summer Ko       Second:  Naaila Mohammad
Synopsis: Condemning the Appointment of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Howard Gillman
Date of Presentation: May 30, 2013

Whereas, the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) has had an interim Executive Vice Chancellor Provost (EVCP) for the 2012-2013 school year,

Whereas, Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed to be the new EVCP of UC Irvine,

Whereas, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA) released a letter to Chancellor Drake to express their concerns regarding the appointment of Howard Gilman,

Whereas, the letter states that “Searches of broad concern to the campus should be conducted as openly as possible so that faculty from various areas and perspectives can raise issues that may not be evident to the necessarily few colleagues on any search committee”,[1]

Whereas the letter also states that “Dean Gilman’s fairness in handling personnel cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into question by reports from USC,”

Whereas, the letter also states that “...many Humanities chairs as well as many individual faculty who complained of his lack of support for their research and lack of respect,”

Whereas, the letter also states that “Many senior faculty left during his term despite USC’s able financial position, and there is a perception among USC faculty that Dean Gillman’s retention and tenure decisions were uneven, unclear, and partial,”

Whereas, in November, USC Professor Mai’a K. Davis Cross filed a federal discrimination complaint against the University of Southern California for denying her bid for tenure, arguing that the institution had a history of denying tenure to women and members of minority groups in the humanities and social sciences[2],

Whereas, Ms.Cross and her lawyer have contended that her tenure case included procedural violations by a former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences—for example, that he, under the authority of the provost, made “cold calls” to scholars outside Cross’s field,[3]

Whereas, the committee said it had found "clear and persuasive" evidence that the "cold calls" the former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences made to scholars to seek their views of Ms. Cross's work were procedurally defective and "materially inhibited" the tenure-review process,[4]

Whereas, she also filed a complaint in November with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing data she collected with a colleague in the political-science department,

Whereas, the data shows that 92 percent of white men who were considered for tenure from 1998 to 2012 in the university's social-sciences and humanities departments were awarded it,

Whereas, that compares with 55 percent of women and professors from minority groups who worked in the same departments during that period, according to documents filed with the EEOC,[5]

Whereas, the previous EVCP, Michael Gottfredson, threatened Ethnic Studies (Chican@/Latin@ Studies, African American Studies, Women’s Studies, Asian American Studies) in a needs attention memo released just last year, [6]

Whereas, the “Needs Attention” exercise threatened to affect the academic reputation of UC Irvine, becoming citable as evidence of administrative complicity in an inhospitable culture for minority students and faculty, [7]

Whereas, given recent blatantly racist incidents,  and the campus climate, the need for the growth of Ethnic Studies is important more than ever,

Whereas, there has been no transparency, as there has been no public discussion regarding the selection of UCI’s new EVCP,

Whereas, UC Irvine’s values are as follows - respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun, [8]

Whereas, Chancellor Drake states on his website, “It is my goal to infuse our values into the core of everything we do at the University of California, Irvine. These values – respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun – foster the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose. It is my hope that as dedicated members of the UC Irvine community, we will continue to live by these values and promote the highest standards of excellence in all that we do,” [9]

Whereas the appointment of Howard Gillman to be EVCP of UC Irvine does not reflect “the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose,”

Let it be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns the appointment of Howard Gillman as the EVCP of UC Irvine, as his actions do not reflect the University’s values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to revoke his appointment of Howard Gillman as EVCP and immediately begins a new search committee that is transparent and includes more than two students,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to hold an open and public  town hall to publicly address the concerns shared by undergraduates, graduates, and faculty,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns Chancellor Drake for hosting a bow-tying workshop on May 9th  instead of increasing awareness beyond a campus-wide email,

Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council create an ad-hoc committee to be named “Transparency and Accountability of Administration Committee” that will consist of all members of ASUCI Legislative Council,

Let it finally be resolved that this committee will continue to the 2013-2014 year and will advocate the University administration to be transparent and that their actions rightfully reflect the interests of the students of UC Irvine and the values of UC Irvine.

[1] http://ucifa.org/2013/05/13/ifa-board-letter-to-chancellor-drake-concerning-appointment-of-new-evc/

[2] http://chronicle.com/article/Tenure-Decisions-at-Southern/135754/

[3] http://chronicle.com/article/Tenure-Decisions-at-Southern/135754/

[4] http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Southern-Calif-Urged-to/136493/

[5] http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Southern-Calif-Urged-to/136493/

[6] http://ucleaks.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/documentzero.pdf

[7] http://ucifa.org/2013/05/13/ifa-board-letter-to-chancellor-drake-concerning-appointment-of-new-evc/

[8] http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/values/

[9] http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/values/

Referred to:     Committee on:
Vote Required:     FINAL VOTE: Passed YEA: 12 NAY: 1  ABS: 0