Front Page
Man Of The Year: Tommy Lee Woon
by Matthew Barrett
Editor-In-Chief

Next October, The Stanford Review will have a very big problem. Every late October issue in recent memory has been devoted to the Grape Boycott. Last November, shortly after The Review covered that story for the very last time, the UFW cancelled the longstanding boycott, bringing to a halt the controversy surrounding it. Grape education programs at Stanford have now run their course, and the Review will have to bring a new issue to the pulpit. In some sense it was a victory for this publication that had opposed it for so long. But in another sense it was a sad passing of the issue which this publication had been so proud to oppose.

In memory of its opposition, The Review considers Tommy Lee Woon Stanford's Person of the Year 2000-2001. The Review recognizes Woon for what he's done this year (grape education was just as prominent this year as any other) and for what he's done over the past several years. The Grape Boycott has been the most reported issue in The Review. It has been the only perennial story, and simultaneously one of the most controversial stories. President Gerhard Casper's decision to make the boycott an issue at Stanford would not have been nearly so successful without a qualified faculty member to perpetuate Casper's wish. None was ever more qualified to educate students on this issue than the Tommy Lee Woon. Student groups at Stanford have followed Woon's examples, albeit with a somewhat more biased approach, and have actively supported the boycott. Along with Woon, those Student groups created a sharp political climate to which The Stanford Review has always been able to react.

The Review had opposed this issue from the very beginning. Almost immediately after the hunger strike of 1994 and President Casper's decision to require a vote in each dining unit, The Review decided that the boycott was not worth Stanford students' time. It decided that, though the critical issue was indeed the rights of the grape workers, a boycott was not the best way to achieve good working conditions. The Review had many conversations with members of the grape workers and farmer's coalition, who actively opposed the boycott. It boasted its relationship with Gary Caloroso, who represented those workers. It spoke directly with those workers that Caloroso and the coalition represented.

But most importantly, The Stanford Review developed a tacit understanding with, and an often vocal relationship with Tommy Lee Woon. Woon, as Stanford's multicultural educator, was the man responsible for making sure, every fall, that Stanford students understood the issue when it came time to vote. He has distributed information to freshmen RAs so that all new students would be educated, he has arranged for panels in dorms to discuss the issue, and he has worked with the Stanford Debate team to bring public debates to White Plaza and elsewhere.

Dean Woon's personal stance on the Grape Boycott has always countered that of the Review, but he has attempted to provide an objective educational program. And he has maintained a positive working relationship with Gary Caloroso. He has kept an active dialogue with The Review, understanding its stance on the issue and always being willing to converse. He has never been parsimonious to lending The Review information, and he has never complained about it's opinion.

That the Stanford Review has disagreed with the predominant campus opinion has not beenthe point, because the Review has always been able to thrive in a climate where a contentious and controversial issue was discussed passionately. Perhaps more than for any other reason, Dean Woon is the most appropriate choice for person of the year for helping to maintain that climate. For the past several years, the issue which fit into that climate most clearly was the grapes issue. In fact, if The Review were to choose an issue of the decade for the 90's, the grape boycott may well be that issue, if only for its prominence. Now the UFW has decided that it should not be an issue any longer. The Review, in recent years, has tended to agree, but it hopes that relevant issues will continue to be discussed. Dean Woon is in the position to take hold of a different issue altogether now. The Review anxiously anticipates that issue and hopes for further dialogue with him. Without the grapes issue next fall, The Review will feel something of a loss. But surely Dean Woon can find something to replace it.

Page last modified on Wednesday, 01-Mar-2006 23:57:26 MST.