According to recent national news outlets, the family of Annie Le is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Yale University for failing to provide adequate safety measures. However according to today's Yale Daily News report by Everett Rosenfeld, "Le relatives do not support suit" (http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/sep/15/le-relatives-do-not-support-suit/). Building upon a letter by Huong Le, Annie Le's father, Rosenfeld's argument appears to be that the suit is being rammed through at the behest of her pertinacious mother, Vivien Le.

There are several things wrong with this story. Generally speaking, its tone casts aspersions upon Le's family members, as if they were arguing over beer pong rather than concerned with life-threatening events stemming from safety problems on campus. He trivializes the uncommonly gruesome homicide by never mentioning the convicted murderer, Raymond J. Clark, III. With regard to the victim, Annie Le is made out to be merely a "slain pharmacology student" rather than an award-winning scholar, exceptional Vietnamese-American coed, and philanthropic doctoral student. In fact, in an eerie presage, Le's published articles include "Crime and Safety in New Haven," printed in 2009 in B Magazine.

Throughout Rosenfeld's article, it is as if he was crafting defensive rhetoric in support of case dismissal--either for Yale University administrators or their readership. How does this intentional, murky devolution reflect those supposedly high classical ideas (motto "light and truth") which this prestigious university, founded by a group of ten Congregational ministers, purports to advance?

There is no coverage on the facts of the case as revealed in court, or at least in other news reports such as Alaine Griffin's online article in The Hartford Courant dated September 6th ("Annie Le's Family Sues"). Instead there is divisive and speculative analysis of who supports versus does not support the lawsuit. The reporter claims that these relatives contacted the News (although one wonders who initiated the contact).

One primary fact which must be rectified is how Rosenfeld glossed over relationships in his attempt to paint Vivien Le as a dragon lady. For instance, according to Maria L. LaGanga and My-Thuan Tran in "Friends remember," Annie Le "grew up in a remote, hilly area off a twisting, one-lane gravel road with an aunt and uncle she regarded as parents." But Rosenfeld's first sentence mentions "Annie Le's GRD '13 father." (The faulty punctuation in this sentence obfuscates the identity of the deceased with the father as GRD '13 himself). Regardless of who Annie lived with, however, she would surely appreciate that her family each expressed their love for her in mourning her tragic, untimely death-- -- one caused by unlawful defilement followed by grisly mutilation.

That Annie Le's family would seek some sort of vindication for their untimely loss means much more than the monetary compensation, even if some bloggers and commentators are interested in exposing these details in a sordid light. They are attempting to signify to the public---particularly Asians---that it is time we take a stand and assert ourselves. While not a Rodney King beating death, this is a high profile case not least because it signifies international relationships or moral values at a time when Asian foreign students are traveling here in record numbers to study. Can the United States still claim to be the land of equal opportunity and freedom when this kind of thing is allowed to pass unnoticed? How unconscionable that the student body cannot mourn the death of Annie Le with unrestrained compassion because New Haven has become inured by frequent crime (http://www.newhavencrimelog.org/).

The fate of victims of rape in this day and age remains disturbing for many feminist/gender rights advocates. For instance, here in Washington, DC where there are six major universities, the number of coeds living in the area warrants prompt medical care and law enforcement when rape occurs; yet each year an estimated 1735 women are raped, and there is still only one area hospital (Washington Hospital) authorized to carry rape kits and also provide trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. (And as Angry Asian Man has noted, men are also vulnerable in rape-homicides).

The difficulty of traveling at night from any college campus to Washington Hospital (an out-of-the-way unsafe area in NE) for emergency following rape has made it very difficult for the defense. Add to this the indignity that Georgetown University Hospital, and George Washington University Hospitals are both likely to be closer to the scene of the crime and to be equally qualified to treat victims. As any seasoned official knows, timely sampling of bodily fluids is essential for proving cases, as Amanda Hess described in her article "Test Case."

The Younger Women's Task Force http://www.ywtf.org/YWTF/Programs/Stand-Up-For-DC-Women.aspx who founded Stand Up for DC Women write: "Women in Washington DC who have been raped report they have been ignored by law enforcement officials, turned away by area hospitals, and denied the forensic medical exam (rape kit) that is required to confirm that a sexual assault took place and subsequently press charges against the attacker. Due to systemic problems in the way sexual assault cases are managed by D.C. law enforcement and hospitals, and a lack of media attention, it is impossible to know just how many women have not received the support and resources they deserve." In essence, and as described by Deborah Cameron in The Myth of Mars and Venus, our society continues to be largely chauvinistic with regard to the prosecution of rapists, placing the brunt of the evidence upon the rape victim herself, especially here in DC.

To balance this out however, it is an undisputed fact that the security of the hospitals in this area is quite out of the ordinary. There are security guards posted at or near every hospital entrance open to the public at all hours of the day, including most clinics.

Just because Yale University is an elite institution does not mean its medical research center is safeguarded from criminal activities or stalkers anymore than evidently an upper-crust family is a safeguard against sociopaths for progeny.

According to this perspective, even while Vivien Le may not be able to bring her suit around gloriously, all the world will and should recognize that in the eyes of many Asian women, young or old, she is truly a heroine marching for our cause.

(Photo credit from Ongo.com)

Article prepared and written by chriswong (blu-geese.org)

Works Cited:

• http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-yale-annie-le-lawsuit-0907-20110906,0,1844041.story
• http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/15/nation/na-annie-le-profile15

•  http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/38671/