“It’s for the Effect:” A Student Response

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the president of the Montana Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Pr. Ken Norton, spoke at Pioneer Memorial Church for a co-curricular course. Hundreds of students heard his presentation, and hundreds more saw the official apology from Andrews University that followed the next day.

This apology, which was signed by the president of Andrews University, Andrea Luxton, explains what happened that required an apology. “As [the speaker] shared . . . stories, the speaker—who does not come from a Southeast Asian ethnic or cultural background—relied on assumed accents and broken English as he attempted to portray how various Southeast Asian individuals may have spoken in those situations.”

Pr. Norton used different accents and depictions of Asian people throughout the talk, even though those accents and characterizations were primarily based on stereotypes. He also used examples to progress his points, even though he acknowledged that they could offend people. For instance, during a testimony about his mission in Thailand, Pr. Norton addressed the fact that when faced with the threat of death, he was afraid because he did not believe he would go to heaven. This was because he had dated a Thai woman for two years, and, as a result, he said, he decided to go to Thailand partly because he thought “Thai girls [are] cute.” He did mention this as something he was ashamed of, but the fetishization of Asian women made many individuals who heard him uncomfortable.

While much of the talk involved accents, the principal place he used them was in a poem that he recited for the last few minutes of his presentation. Before this poem, he said that his intention was not to offend anyone but that it was “for the effect.” This extended poem consisted of his narration and the voices of imagined Chinese characters. When he spoke in the narrator’s voice, he used grammatically correct English. However, when he spoke parts of his Asian characters, he spoke with broken, grammatically incorrect English with a heavy, vague, stereotypical Asian accent. Andrews University has responded, but the rest of this article is dedicated to hearing the voices of the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community and how they are responding to this event. First, the joint student presidents of the AAPI clubs have released this statement:

In light of the recent events revolving around the incidents that occurred at the Andrews University Chapel on Thursday, February 10, the Asian Cultural Clubs on campus have collectively come together to address these issues and affirm the feelings of our respective populations. 

“Adopting inaccurate and insensitive accents, feeding into demeaning stereotypes and the use of offensive and worrisome vocabulary contributed to an environment which was antagonistic towards students from Asian backgrounds. These distasteful perspectives are something that we are committed to preventing on our diverse campus; to the students that had to stand witness to this unacceptable behavior, we are here for you.
Although this event is a stark reminder of the injustice that exists in our society today, it also allows for an opportunity of awareness and growth on our international campus. Evidently what happened last Thursday provoked a conversation that needed to be had. Together, we will work to make a safer environment for the AAPI community on campus and to guide constructive discussion on pressing matters such as the ones brought forward from the derogatory nature of what happened during chapel.

We also would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Andrews University Administration, especially Vice President Michael Nixon and University Chaplain José Bourget, for their quick response to this situation. 

Moving forward, we seek to foster a climate on campus that reflects the diverse and beautiful individuals that coexist within these spaces.”

The following voices come from individual Andrews University students. One such voice is that of Solana Campbell (junior, business administration), who, along with Abigail Lee (sophomore, sociology), organized the AAPI club presidents to meet with Chaplain José Bourget and Vice President Michael Nixon to address their concerns with the chapel talk. This conversation with campus leadership helped lead to Andrews University’s apology the next day. These are her words:

“Attending the required chapels is already difficult for me, but attending the required chapels while also having to listen to a speaker spew one statement of anti-Asian rhetoric after another made it much, much, more difficult. I found myself having to step out, put my Airpods in and listen to music, chat with my friends around me, in order to stop myself from standing up and saying something, right there in the middle of chapel. For him to share these deeply harmful stereotypes from the pulpit made me feel like Andrews University was okay with this kind of rhetoric, which was a kind of hurtful betrayal from a school I thought respected its diverse student body. When student leaders followed up with staff and administration, I was honestly shocked by how open they were to admitting they were wrong to have allowed this speaker to say what he did. Their eager willingness to write a formal apologetic statement and be clearer with future speakers about what is expected from them on campus helped heal that betrayal I’d felt. The truth is, I am used to the Adventist church disrespecting my identity as an Asian-American woman. From their continued refusal to recognize women as equal to men in terms of ordination to the years I spent reading Adventist missionary books that grossly misrepresented India, I kind of expected that this situation would lead to the same kind of apathy from leaders. I’m grateful Andrews took their Asian student population seriously and sought to heal this hurt as soon as possible.”

Another student, Abby Shim (freshman, business) had this to say:

“The chapel speaker’s use of stereotypical Asian accents was alarming. My friends and I were immediately taken aback during the service, not only by the accents he used, but by other concerning remarks he made about why he even went on mission trips anyway. Overall, the speaker’s message was entirely offputting and disappointing. One of the great things about the Andrews campus is the rich diversity it holds, which should be celebrated, not brought down by offensive stereotypes and disrespectful comments such as those made by the speaker.”

Charisse Lapuebla (freshman, speech pathology) said this:

“I understand he meant well. He just wanted to relay his journey and experience in serving Jesus while maybe inspiring the next generation. But as a non-POC (person of color), some of his statements and expressions didn’t come off as humorous or relatable as he might have thought. Personally, as a South-Asian, woman-presenting person, it was really offensive and hurtful to hear fetishization, even if spoken about his past, and imagery of a “savage land” where my relatives are living. I mean, I knew there will always be those kinds of statements anywhere in America, but I thought that, as a widely diverse community, it wouldn’t be preached to my face, spoken in a tone that doesn’t seem to find anything wrong with it. As a grown adult, leader of a conference, looked to as an example of the behavior of those in the Adventist church, I really do hope that he realizes, regrets, understands, and grows past it. Even if he doesn’t, not to be pessimistic, but that's the reality of being a person of color here, you just kind of expect it at some point.”

Joshua Pak (senior, biochemistry), the president of KASA (Korean American Student Association) had this to say:

“As a representative of the Korean community on campus, it was disheartening to hear about what transpired during chapel this past week. Unfortunately, this is a stark reminder that the perpetuation of Asian stereotypes in our society is an issue that needs to be addressed. However, I was proud of the quick response the Andrews University campus had to this situation and the solidarity I found with my fellow student leaders and the administration. Evidently, this has shown that there is a lot of growth that can and should happen; moving forward KASA will work towards creating safer environments for constructive discussions.”
 

A theme of disappointment in the words and actions of this speaker can be seen throughout the reflections of each individual. Some of the adjectives used to describe this chapel presentation were; “alarming,” “hurtful,” “off putting ,” and “deeply harmful.” This is especially due to Andrews University’s diverse environment and the prominent position that Pastor Norton holds in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. The testimonies of these students and the official response of Andrews University speak for themselves. They express the hurt this presentation caused and the healing that is hoped to follow. Quoting from the statement of the joint student clubs, “Moving forward, we seek to foster a climate on campus that reflects the diverse and beautiful individuals that coexist within these spaces.”