Comm 101T-Media Activism (Spring 2018) Main Menu Introduction Sample Page by Professor P This is the template each student should use to create their page. Mental Health at UCSD by Alex Students discuss the problem with mental health at UCSD UCSD Students Against Muslim Ban Amiya Sun Mental Health at UCSD with Anne Kuiper-Thacker Lonely and Isolated on UCSD Campus UCSD Housing for International Exchange Students Bona Kim Vetoed How underfunded mental health services dampen the college experience University Art Gallery, A Terrible Name in Terms of Understanding What It Is A documentary on how and why a student activism against closure of University Art Gallery happened in 2016. By Cassie Cai Cory Har FOODDOC. Overpriced FOOD We're Not Your Tuition ATM by Dongwhee (Daniel) Kim UC Board's another unanimous vote on nonresident tuition hike made international students pay the price. UCSD Art Mural Support A student's insight on UCSD's art culture Smoking problems on campus A documentary revealing secret smoking behavior on campus by Doris Zhang Unlearning How To Walk - By Douglas Jung A documentary on issues of discrimination and prejudice. Euna Choi Lack of Parking Space "Art is like Dessert" by Evan Kwong It Shouldn't Be This Easy Hannah Kim & Justin Sullivan Transportation and Safety in UCSD UCSD transportation and safety is important to everyone! How We Brought Dance Back - by Juri Ito A documentary in honor of the students that fought and demanded their dance classes back. Asian Americans by Kyoka Matsunaga A look at Asian American culture at UCSD and in the media Art n Humanity in UCSD - Mira Han A documentary dedicated to tell the stories from Art and Humanity students Do (UC) Us Now? An inter-generational look at the Compton Cookout and its effect on the anti-Black campus climate at UC San Diego. The Literature Building Cancer Cluster Over 10 women have been diagnosed with breast cancer, all of which have spent long periods of time in the literature building of UCSD. Read below for more details. Mental Health Crisis - Monologue from international student Shiyu Wang COMM101T Final Porject

Dalai Lama Controversy at UCSD 2017

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This documentary is a briefly approach to the political activism on campus, regarding the controversy that was brought by the Dalai Lama graduation speech at UCSD in 2017. Since I am an international student from China, I consider this subject topic would be more related to myself. The Dalai Lama has always been a controversial figure internationally. Majority of the people only know him as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and a person who spreads holiness and love, but the reason why he is so controversial is still a mystery for most.

The repercussions that were caused right after the school releasing the announcement of inviting the Dalai Lama to the 2017 commencement was big. Although the controversy seems very influential with all the news reporting, most of the Chinese students gave support with their voices through the Internet rather than standing out and making a difference physically. Moreover, the student group objection did not last long, and the scale of the activity was too small to be considered as a protest. And there is no further action beside the Chinese Students and Scholars Association sent a letter of request to school as a representative to stop the Dalai Lama from coming as a guest speaker at the commencement. This documentary will briefly explore this controversy and the possible reason of why Chinese student did not take any further action against the Dalai Lama’s presence.  

Initially, I had planned to interview members of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) to gain insights into controversy of the Dalai Lama presence and to elucidate the process of meeting with the school board . After contacting one member of CSSA, I received his verbal rejection of my interview request. Consequently, I sent an official interview request to the CSSA general email account in the hopes of receiving an official rejection, even an automated one. However, I never received a reply to my email.

Therefore, I decided to cover the controversy by briefly introducing the conflict between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government and by illustrating the controversy in a more objective way, namely by presenting the whole story as told by different voices on both sides with as little bias as possible. The B-roll that I used contained mostly video clips of the Dalai Lama demonstrating how his public image on the international stage compares to most people portrayed by media. To offer an alternative perspective of the controversy, I used the clip of a news release with a spokesperson of the Chinese government as a counterpoint.

In the process, I discovered that by seeing the Dalai Lama’s image in mainstream media only, I had not initially understood the profound, historically informed conflict between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government. I can imagine that most students in China have encountered the same problem and, by not realizing the underlying purpose of opposing, lacked the impetus to advocate China’s unification.


Aura Location:

The location that I chose is the UCSD Geisel Library. The reason why I chose the Geisel Library as the trigger image not only because the building itself is the landmark of the school, the library walk that leads to the Geisel library is where most of the UCSD activities and protests take place. I believe this location can represent the school and incidents that had been held at UCSD. Also can be seen as a path that brings students out of study momentarily to become an activist for the things they care about the most.

(Key image credit to: UC San Diego News Center)

Final Video

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