Charissa Lee ’23 thinks about the big ideas underlying her experiences at Wesleyan. The training on sexual violence prevention that she received as a WesWell intern is in the back of her mind even when she’s talking with friends. As a contributing writer for Disorientation, a student publication with a candid perspective on the University, she looks at religious life and sexual health on campus through a lens of historical analysis. And in order to make time for her history thesis, she’s worked to build administrative systems in several of the clubs that will work smoothly with less involvement from her, so that her work there can leave an impact even after she graduates.

The Argus: Why do you think you were nominated as a WesCeleb?

Charissa Lee: I think I was nominated because I do a lot of things on campus. And I would say I’m visible for people who are actively seeking out resources, and I’m occupying those spaces. 

A: Could you elaborate a little bit on the ways in which you are visible around campus? 

CL: Sure. My primary job on campus is to work with WesWell. I’m an intern there. Previously, I was working with SHAPE [Support, Healing, Activism, Prevention, Education], but SHAPE merged with WesWell at the beginning of this semester. I am a sexual violence prevention educator within WesWell. I do a lot of programming for that particular topic…. Many people who are not necessarily in my social circles have met me because of the trainings that I do, and other collaborative programs I do with other groups on campus. 

A: Can you tell us a bit more about your involvement with sexual violence prevention education on campus?

CL: I think a huge part of sexual violence prevention education is centered around loving and caring relationships. I carry that throughout all of my interpersonal relationships. I think I emphasize that a lot in all of my conversations, whether I’m in my official capacity as a WesWell intern or I’m just having a meal with a friend. So I’ve definitely tried my best to impart that knowledge and that training to all of my friends, maybe in more implicit ways than they might perceive. I love asking people about how they interact with other people, and if they participate in hookup culture and what that looks like. And I’ve definitely facilitated conversations where people felt comfortable to talk about their experiences with hookup culture. I don’t think they would have been able to talk about that otherwise, or maybe even to other friends. I am really happy that people feel safe enough to talk about a very sensitive topic with me. I also feel very prepared to hold that space for others. 

A: Sounds like you’re doing such important work. What else are you involved in on campus?

CL: Outside of my job, I’m also very active in the Wesleyan Christian Fellowship, which is a group for Protestant students on campus. I’ve been on the board for the past three years. So I’ve been super active. Myself and a few other  students played an integral role in keeping the Protestant community alive and running while we didn’t have a chaplain for two years, so a lot of my time went into that. I do a lot of administrative work to help the club keep running. And this year and last year, I chaired the History Majors Committee.

A: So you are a history major? 

CL: Yes. My thesis is on the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Malaysia, specifically looking at South Asian migration to Southeast Asia.

A: Is that something that you always knew you wanted to study? 

CL: I always knew that my thesis was going to be about Malaysia, and over my freshman summer, I knew that I wanted it to be about my family, but I didn’t know how. When I was a sophomore in the spring, I took a class with Professor [of History William] Pinch called “The Great Game.” It was a history of South Asia during the Cold War, and that was super fascinating. It made me think a lot about British colonialism and Malaysia, and that’s when I decided that I wanted to write about migration history and diasporas in Malaysia. That’s kind of how Professor Pinch became my advisor.

A: That sounds like a really amazing project. How are you balancing working on a thesis while doing everything else?

CL: I would say that I’m not balancing it super well right now. I definitely front-loaded a lot of my thesis stuff during the summer, so I feel very comfortable, but I shouldn’t be too comfortable because I do need to start writing. I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time over the past month just setting up administrative stuff for my clubs. Hopefully, things can be less of a burden for me going into the rest of the semester because all of the administrative scaffolding has been set up so that the club can run well. So hopefully I will be able to shift my time prioritization throughout the semester and focus a little bit more on my thesis going forward. 

A: Are you studying anything else at Wesleyan?

CL: I’m a history and dance double major. I’ve been dancing since I was three, and I’m classically trained in ballet. I never did ballet competitively and was never pre-professional, but I always knew that I wanted to pursue dance, and it’s a very integral part of my college career. Not many colleges offer dance as a major, and I didn’t want to go to a conservatory, so Wesleyan was a great place for me to do both. I have danced almost every single semester here at Wesleyan, except for the semester I was remote. I was taking classes online during COVID in Malaysia, but I was still dancing in my old studio.

A: So you studied remotely during the fall of 2020? How did you make that all work?

CL: There was a huge time difference. It was about 12 hours at the beginning of the semester, and then 13 hours towards the end because of daylight saving [time], which meant that I had class from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.. It was wild. I was extremely sleep-deprived that entire semester because I very unwisely chose to extend my summer internship. So I was doing an internship, taking four credits, and doing all of that online at night, and then in the mornings, I would go to the office.

I spent a lot of time just calling friends from Wesleyan who were in other parts of the world and in the same boat as me. We just talked about how horrible it was. That’s kind of how I got through those six months.

I felt so isolated while I was doing school remotely. Even though I was home, was meeting my high school friends, and was still doing my internship, I still felt super disjointed, especially from the Wesleyan community. Coming back to campus was a huge part of me being able to adjust and complete my sophomore year.

A: Changing gears a little bit, what made you choose Wesleyan?

CL: I’m a Freeman Asian scholar, so that’s how I got here. I found out about the program from a family friend who told me that Wesleyan provided a lot of funding for international students. I applied primarily due to the funding, as well as the programs. 

A: What have been some highlights of your Wesleyan experience?

CL: So much of my time is spent in residential spaces. Many of my friendships have come out of the spaces I have lived in and hours spent cooking and talking that just bleed into the night. Those are such precious moments to me and definitely something that I will remember when I graduate. Building connections with people and sharing a meal with them has been such a big part of my time at Wesleyan. 

When I came back to campus after I was remote for a semester, I moved into Womanist House. It was the most amazing experience after being remote for so long. It was going from an extremely isolated place to such a loving and caring community that made my transition back to campus so easy. Those are the same people that I’ve chosen to become very close friends with.

I’ve [also] made [great friends] through the Freeman community, definitely some of my closest friends, and I’m super grateful for them. We just have a shared experience, not only because of our program but because of where we come from: very similar backgrounds in Southeast Asia. And they’re just wonderful.

TA: Before we go, will you tell me more about Disorientation and your involvement with it?

CL: Disorientation is a student-run publication primarily aimed at introducing new and current students to the administration in a very real and honest way. And that might include not very great things about the administration. But I think it’s most important that we are telling a very specific story from a very specific perspective. We try as best as possible to be historical in our argumentation, to show that the issues that you see in the administration are not new issues. These are issues that have persisted for decades. And what we try to argue is that there is a track record of [issues within] the administration. But there is also a track record of how students have tried to fix issues that they see within the administration, or how students have organized and protested to bring more awareness around these issues. So that’s the primary aim of the publication to highlight different issues, not just within the administration, but within the student culture, and talk about the historic timeline and how those issues have been talked about and how those issues have been resolved. 

TA: How did you get involved with this?

CL: My role in Disorientation was as a contributing writer, and I wrote a few articles about religious life on campus, sexual violence on campus, as well as sexual health; essentially, the offices that I am active in. I just hope that people read it and understand that it comes from my perspective, but it is also very much grounded in research that I’ve done, that research almost being historical.

[Disorientation] also talks about issues and gives very real solutions as to how students can fix those issues in real time, highlighting different resources that might not necessarily be talked about during orientation. But [it’s] also very honest about how those resources can and cannot help you.

The people who are working in Disorientation are all my good friends. They really care about the school, and they really care about the student body. All of us have occupied such important and different spaces on campus, so we are able to bring a very holistic perspective as to what the issues are right now.

 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@wesleyan.edu.