Senior Cheny Hagerup (right) talks Wayen Hsiung, co-founder of
Direct Action Everywhere, after his presentation about
animal rights on Sept. 11, 2014.
LEAH WILLIAMS / THE DEPAUW
Former DePauw University student Wayne Hsiung returned to campus to speak about activism, to which he has devoted much of his professional life.
Hsiung’s Wednesday lecture centered around the question, “What if everything we think we know about social change is … wrong?” This idea is based on the past successes and failures of those hoping to create social change. He focused on the traditional advice on activism, which he simplified as change individuals, change behavior and be nice.
He counters traditional methods by stressing the importance of interactions, the stronger reaction produced when attempting to change someone’s beliefs or morals and the key role actions that might not be considered “nice” can help provoke change in the world. He emphasizes the difference between movements.
Hsiung also warns against relying solely on “clicktivism,” advocacy through a computer screen only, with no actual change behind those “likes.” He maintains that the best way to institute change is on the local level, stressing the necessity to be in the area if change is to occur. Senior Cheney Hagerup, who attended Hsiung’s lecture, agrees.
“It’s very important to reevaluate the way we see movements,” Hagerup said. “It’s important to build up a community around the movement.”
Hsiung stressed that there is no bad way to start to be an activist or get involved. He personally got interested in animal rights activism after practicing law, though he spent more than five years after his law school graduation pursuing ventures that were not related to law. He believes that a lawyer is a great role to have in becoming an advocate, whether directly or as an aid to others. He was motivated to become an advocate for the rights of animals after he felt singled out and valued less than those around him, an experience he believes he shares with the animals he aims to help.
In 2013, Hsiung co-founded an animal rights network called Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). In only 10 months and with very little funding, DxE organized several days of action, inspiring animal rights activists to stand up against the injustices against animals in our world through nonviolent, direct action.
Some of these events have garnered national media attention. Their main target is the popular food chain Chipotle, using the slogan “It’s Not Food, It’s Violence.”
On days of action, activists visit the restaurants and, using signs and raised voices, let patrons know about the cruelty with which the animals in Chipotle’s products are treated. Hsiung believes that this type of action is effective because it disrupts the calm and lets the public know that his organization is serious about the wrong they see in the world.
His stop at DePauw concluded his speaking tour, with previous stops in places such as Washington D.C., Boston and Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
After his lecture, Hsiung ate dinner with some students in The Hub and visited Roy O. West Library, an experience that took him back to his days as a DePauw student. He attended for just a year before transferring to the University of Chicago.
Keith Nightenhelser, coordinator of convocations and DePauw professor, thought that Hsiung’s message of activism was a very important one to bring to DePauw to build upon programs already in places such as the Compton Center, Environmental Fellows and the Prindle Institute.
“This idea of being active and aware and being able to properly engage in conflict,” Nightenhelser said, “is really essential to a liberal arts education.”