RECIPE / U.S.A.
June 20, 2016
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Students chide Dartmouth
for lack of faculty diversity
By Michael Casey
The Associated Press
C
GRILLED CHEESE TWIST. Servings of Spicy Grilled Paneer are seen in London. Paneer is Indian un-
salted white cheese. It has a mild flavor so takes to marinades really well and, unlike most cheeses, it can be
grilled without melting, so that it softens in the middle and chars on the edges. (AP Photos/Meera Sodha)
A spicy turn on grilled cheese
By Meera Sodha
The Associated Press
W
hen it comes to cooking, my
father has never really strayed
into the kitchen. Once, when my
mother was away, he made himself a
“salad” using a can of tuna, a red pepper,
and a cucumber and called me (and a
handful of others) as enthusiastically as if
he’d won the lottery to let us all know.
In search of something celebratory to
cook for him one Father’s Day, I asked him
what his favorite dish was. He replied,
“Anything you or your mother cook for me
is always the best” — a good answer from a
man who would otherwise be eating tuna
salad every day.
But the joy of being my father’s daughter
is that I know the things that make him
stop and smile for a moment. And that
thing, for my father, is cheese, in
particular paneer.
Paneer is Indian unsalted white cheese.
It has a mild flavor so takes to marinades
really well and, unlike most cheeses, it can
be grilled without melting so that it softens
in the middle and chars on the edges.
This marinade is for the dish known as
Paneer Tikka in India. It’s made with some
pantry staples like coriander, cumin, chili
powder, and yogurt. The marinade gives
the paneer an addictive, lip-smacking, and
savory flavor.
And the bonus: This low-effort-high-
reward dish doesn’t take much time to
whip up, leaving you more time to spend
with your father.
Editor’s Note: Meera Sodha is an Indian
foods expert and author of Made in India:
Recipes from an Indian Family Kitchen.
Spicy Grilled Paneer
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 lemon, juiced, plus extra wedges to serve
1 tablespoon chickpea flour
4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons red chili powder
1 tablespoon canola or other neutral oil
1 lb. paneer
2 handfuls of fresh coriander, chopped
2 bell peppers, cubed
1 red onion, cut into 8 pieces
1 small zucchini, thickly sliced
The paneer is best served hot with a salad, raita, and some Indian flatbreads, like
roti or naan. Paneer is more widely available in Asian supermarkets, specialty
stores, and online. You’ll also need some skewers.
Blend the yogurt, lemon juice, chickpea flour, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, and
chili powder together in a blender, then tip the marinade into a bowl. Add a handful
of chopped coriander and mix.
Cut the paneer blocks into nine equal-sized cubes and add to the marinade. Stir to
mix. Then thread each of your skewers alternately with the onion, pepper, zucchini,
and paneer.
To cook the paneer, coat a griddle pan with oil and heat the pan until very hot.
Lightly oil the pan so the paneer doesn’t stick. Place the skewers onto the pan and
turn every minute or so until they are evenly cooked and a little charred on each side.
Serve with fresh coriander and lemon wedges.
Nutrition information per serving: 443 calories (284 calories from fat); 32 g fat (19
g saturated, 0 g trans fats); 114 mg cholesterol; 416 mg sodium; 13 g carbohydrate; 3
g fiber; 5 g sugar; 28 g protein.
ONCORD, N.H. — Since arriving
at Dartmouth College in 2014,
Melissa Padilla would chat with
her friends about the lack of diversity
among the faculty and wonder why there
weren’t more instructors who looked like
them.
But it wasn’t until May when one of her
favorite teachers, an assistant professor of
English who is Asian American, was
denied tenure that the 26-year-old senior
went public with her concerns.
Angry over the denial, Padilla joined
dozens of students and faculty at the Ivy
League school who launched a campaign
demanding that Aimee Bahng’s case be
reconsidered.
They
pressed
the
administration for answers over the
tenure process and launched a petition in
support of Bahng that has gathered more
than 3,600 signatures.
Protesters took to social media using the
hashtags
#fight4facultyofcolor
and
#dontdodartmouth on Bahng’s behalf.
They also held a campus rally in May that
included a casket representing the “death
of our education” and carried roses for each
of the minority faculty they say have left
the college since 2002.
“Once we sort of got past the anger, we
were kind of shocked,” said Padilla, who is
Mexican and lives in the United States
with her family on a green card. “We didn’t
understand why the college would not take
this opportunity to keep a professor of color
on campus that is not only providing the
academic prestige they want but is also
mentoring students of color.”
Dartmouth is the latest university to
find itself in the crosshairs of students
angry about the makeup of its faculty and,
in some cases, its student body. Inspired by
the Black Lives Matter movement, one of
the first protests kicked off at the
University of Missouri over harassment of
students and the dearth of African-Ameri-
can faculty. They have spread to campuses
across the country, where demonstrations
and sit-ins have forced administrators to
consider bolstering diversity training,
expanding African-American programs,
and hiring more minority faculty to
improve the racial climate.
“Dartmouth is not singular,” said Cathy
J. Schlund-Vials, president of the
Association for Asian American Studies,
who signed the petition and sent a letter in
support of Bahng. “When one looks at the
last year and the number of protests that
have occurred on college campuses around
this issue of diversity, tenure denial is part
and parcel of the larger trend among
higher ed institutions.”
Students are targeting faculty diversity
because they have seen so little progress
on the issue — despite repeated promises
of universities to recruit and retain faculty
of color. In 2013, 21 percent of full-time
faculty was nonwhite, according to the
National Center for Education Statistics.
Most Ivy League schools fared even worse,
with Dartmouth acknowledging only 16
percent of its faculty were minorities —
compared with 35 percent of its student
Celebrated Indian bodybuilder Manohar Aich dies at age 104
Continued from page 7
against colonial oppression.
“It was in the jail that I began weight
training seriously. This helped me prepare
myself for the world championship,” Aich
said in 2012.
“In jail I used to practice on my own,
without any equipment, sometimes for 12
hours in a day,” he recalled.
The jail authorities were impressed with
his perseverance and he was given a
special diet to help build his stamina.
India’s independence in 1947 led to
Aich’s release from jail. Dogged by poverty,
Aich and his wife struggled to put their
four children through school. There was
little cash to indulge his passion for
bodybuilding, but Aich took up odd jobs to
earn a little on the side.
His 1950 win of a “Mr. Hercules” contest
spurred him to set his sights on the Mr.
Universe tournament in London.
In 1951, Aich took second in the contest,
and stayed on in London to prepare for
another shot at the title. He returned to
India after winning the title in 1952.
Aich often told his fans that the secret to
his long life was his ability to take his
troubles lightly and remain happy during
difficult times.
That, and a simple diet of milk, fruits,
and vegetables along with rice, lentils, and
fish kept him healthy, he said.
#fight4facultyofcolor. Assistant professor of
English Aimee Bahng poses outside her office building
on the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, New Hamp-
shire. Students at Dartmouth are criticizing the Ivy
League school for its lack of faculty diversity and
have launched a petition in support of Bahng after the
Asian American was denied tenure. They took to social
media using the hashtags #fight4facultyofcolor and
#dontdodartmouth on Bahng’s behalf, held a campus
rally in May that included a casket representing the
“death of our education,” and carried roses for each
of the minority faculty they say have left the college
since 2002. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
body.
Craig Wilder, who is African American,
spent six years at Dartmouth teaching
history before leaving in 2008 for the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He
recalled how the college would promote
diversity and brought in several talented
scholars of color during his tenure. But he
said the scholars often left after not getting
tenure or being promoted.
“I was not alone in questioning the
morality of continuing to recruit promising
scholars to an institution that had a
questionable commitment to their
success,” said Wilder, who had tenure at
Dartmouth. “That doubt fully informed my
decision to leave.”
While Dartmouth wouldn’t comment on
Bahng’s tenure case due to privacy
concerns, the college insists that it is
taking the issue of diversity seriously. In
November 2014, it announced a goal of
increasing minority tenure-track faculty
from 16 percent to 25 percent by 2020,
which requires an extra $100 million over
the next 10 years. It also is doubling the
amount in its diversity recruitment fund to
$2 million per year.
Similar campaigns have been launched
by Brown University, which is spending
$165 million on efforts to address diversity
and racism, including $100 million to
diversify faculty. Yale University has
committed $50 million to diversify its
faculty.
Bahng arrived at Dartmouth in 2009.
Along with her teaching and writing on
Asian-American literature, feminist sci-
ence and technology studies, and queer
theory, the 40-year-old mentored under-
graduate and graduate minority students
and helped create and teach a popular
course dedicated to the Black Lives Matter
movement.
Bahng said she didn’t make a stink
about her tenure denial, even though she
thinks Dartmouth got it wrong.
At the same time, “I recognize we are in a
certain moment when students and facul-
ty and staff of color across many institu-
tions of higher education feel as though we
are at a sort of breaking point,” she said.