Word: caucused
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
MANY of the Asian scholars at the Vietnam Caucus meeting in Philadelphia March 23 may never have seen such heated political discussion before--certainly not among students of Asian affairs, usually noted for their moderation and restraint. For the first time, a large portion of American students of the Far East took a stand against the Vietnam...
Even the organizers of the Caucus were surprised (and elated) to find such strong and vocal opposition to U.S. policies in Asia among the 400 scholars at the meeting. The Caucus represented one third of the 1200 gathered in Philadelphia for the twentieth annual convention of the Association of Asian Studies. The Caucus, however, was held completely outside the auspices of the AAS. It was chaired by John K. Fairbank, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of History and unofficial dean of Asian Studies in this country...
...idea for the Caucus came out of student-initiated meetings among faculty and students in Asian Studies at Harvard. The Harvard group contacted 60 other Asian Studies centers in the U.S. and Canada, and drew to the Caucus a group evenly divided between students and faculty. Representatives from twelve such centers formed a credentials committee to select resolutions they would present to the Caucus for a vote. They also wrote a questionnaire to poll attitudes about the purpose and conduct of the war in Vietnam. The committee picked four resolutions to be presented from among nine submitted...
...outset of the meeting, Fairbank skillfully frustrated an effort by some participants to shut down the Caucus. The dissident elements made repeated charges that the Caucus was "illegitimate" and "conspiratorial." Fairbank calmly refuted the charges, and when the argument erupted into violent exchanges, he sobered the audience by stating simply: "Gentlemen, shut...
...preferential votes on the four resolutions, the Caucus again voiced strong opposition to the war. The most popular one called on Asian scholars to: "disassociate ourselves from a policy which amounts to little more than the annihilation of the Vietnamese people"; to demand that the U.S. "unilaterally withdraw its military forces from Vietnam under the umbrella of negotiations"; and to "support those who refuse induction into the United States armed forces...