UW Law Student KaShia
Moua
"Given the level of authority a professor holds, his stereotypes about Hmong Americans can
be easily misconstrued as fact by non-Hmong students," commented the Wisconsin Asian
Bar Association. "There is no appropriate context for a professor to use ethnic minority
stereotypes as facts to illustrate an educational point."
The concerned students hope the UW Law School administration will address the
underlying problem. The real issue is the lack of awareness about the Hmong at all levels:
student, faculty and administration. More specifically, it is about the law school's duty to
ensure a safe learning environment free from ethnic and racial stereotyping. "This incident
introduces an opportunity for not only the law school but the entire University of Wisconsin
system to engage in necessary and overdue dialogue about Hmong Americans," said KaShia
Moua, a third year law student.
The concerned students also expressed hope that the law school administration and
Professor Kaplan will seize the opportunity to improve the school's learning environment by
committing to the following requests:
1) Professor Kaplan publicly repeal his statements and acknowledge that such statements
have a damaging effect on the learning environment and students' perceptions of the Hmong;
2) The U.W. Law School fund and promote the Hmong Cultural Series in April 2007 as well as
future cultural awareness events;
3) The U.W. Law School preserve the Legal Education Opportunities Program;
4) The U.W. Law School implement a Critical Race Theory & Law Program; and
5) The U.W. Law School commit to diversity within the student body, faculty and administration.
Hmong students and
community protest UW Law
professor's negative remarks in
lecture
(Part 1) The issue
|
Professor Leonard Kaplan made derogatory statements
regarding Hmong Americans in his Legal Process class.
"Kaplan was discussing legal formalism and the relationship
between culture and law. In his lecture he stated that 'Hmong
men have no other skills than to kill.' Kaplan questioned the
class, 'What do you think happened after ten years? The Hmong
men started dying and Hmong women started to do better.'
Kaplan also stated that second generation Hmong Americans
become gang members and engage in criminal activity."
A law student said that they met with Kaplan on February 20th to
address his statements and to request that he publicly repeal
them. During that meeting, Kaplan reportedly did not deny
making the statements. Kaplan was sorry that the students were
hurt but refused to apologize for making such negative
statements, and stressed that his comments were true based on
his own "research." Kaplan's unwillingness to repeal his
remarks and his refusal to take responsibility for his statements
contradict his "great respect for the Hmong community," the
students said.
"Though we do not assert that racism motivated Professor
Kaplan's statements, his remarks were irresponsible
considering the tense relations between Hmong Americans and
the greater community in Wisconsin," said Kanha Vuong, a
second year law student who attended Kaplan's class when the
remarks were made.
On March 1, even before the appointed time of 6:30 p.m., Room
2260 of the University of Wisconsin School of Law was already
full-packed with UW students, faculty, and members of the
Madison community who wanted to participate in a public forum
initiated by seven Hmong students led by KaShia Moua.
Emotions were high because the topic of the discussion was the
negative statements about the Hmong made by UW-Law
Professor Leonard Kaplan in his class on February 15.
According to a press release earlier issued by Moua's group,
Peng Her applauded the law
students whom he called the
"Magnificent Seven" for
speaking up.
|
Shwaw Vang and Atty. Yer Vang spoke
strongly in defense of the Hmong
community and against the 'hateful'
remarks of Professor Kaplan in a lecture.