“Here an Eric Liu, there an Eric Liu, everywhere an Eric Liu, Liu.” Thus read the Phillipian’s weekly “Conventional Wisdom Watch,” where the paper rewarded Asian Arts with an “UP” arrow. Indeed, guest speaker Eric Liu helped kick off what was a successful Asian Arts week. His day at Andover began with a first-period All-School Meeting in Cochran Chapel on Wednesday, May 1, 2002. His speech was engaging and personal, not only exploring the outdated dichotomies of black/white and foreign/alien, but also relating them to his own experiences at the Andover summer session. Liu was especially successful in including the whole audience, not limiting his focus to merely Asian American issues.

Immediately following the All-School Meeting, Mr. Liu traveled over to the CAMD office for a second-period reception. There, he and approximately twenty students discussed subjects ranging from politics to race relations to education. After this, Mr. Liu visited several classes and had a roundtable meeting with several teachers. The final event of the day was a forum in Ropes Salon. About twenty students joined Mr. Liu for lunch, where the discussion focused mainly on Liu’s “How We Teach” initiative.

Eric Liu’s visit made possible what is an increasingly difficult aspect of Asian Arts week, the component of Asian American identity. Events such as the Commons dinner, food bazaar, talent show, and fashion show are characteristically focused on traditional Asian culture. Mr. Liu’s speech and ensuing dialogues gave Asian Americans an opportunity to celebrate not only their traditions from overseas, but also their heritage as a minority group in the United States. At Andover, talks on race or diversity too often polarize around issues of black and white. Eric Liu’s visit helped remind us that such discussions “no longer represent the full breadth of humanity.”
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On behalf of the Asian Society and Aya S. Murata, Advisor to Asian and Asian American Students, I thank the Abbot Academy Association for your kind generosity and for making Eric P. Liu’s visit to Phillips Academy possible.