This week, The Argus sat down with Evan Hsu ’24. As a Disorientation coordinator, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (MB&B) major and College of East Asian Studies minor, and big name on campus, Hsu has made a sizeable mark on Wesleyan in his time here. If you’ve seen him on campus, chances are he’s said hello. Read on to hear more about Disorientation, his personal relationship with President Michael Roth ’78, and his ethos regarding friendliness around campus.

The Argus: Can you tell me about what you do outside of academics?

Evan Hsu: My primary commitment outside of academics is Disorientation, which our [readers] may know as the [student-run] yearly zine that I coordinate along with Ruby Clarke ’24. We try to give an alternative cultural perspective on campus, one that runs counter to what the administration will tell you. What we like to say is that if the student handbook gives you the rules of the school, we show you the ropes.

A: Why did you want to be a part of Disorientation? What have you gotten from your time there?

EH: The people who ran Disorientation last year were some good friends of mine, and they brought me on. I just joined last spring, so I’m definitely not the longest-running member, but I would say that I’m one of the more passionate. I guess I was looking for something to do with my senior year in an official capacity. I wanted to do something that pushed forward a goal in my life. I was thinking to myself, “Maybe I should have a big project to do, something that will really satisfy my need to feel like I’m doing all that I can with what I’ve been given.” I have been given a lot. I live a life of a lot of gratitude for what I have.

Disorientation has been very fulfilling. It’s been what I wanted it to be. It’s interesting when you come in and you are a new member of a group, and then suddenly, you’re told we need somebody who can help run the group next year. I was like, “How am I going to capture the ethos that the seniors above me had before?”

I have to say that I owe a lot to Ruby Clarke, [who] has just been the best co-coordinator I could ever ask for. She and I work together like rice and oil. We bounce ideas off each other, we confirm with each other, we work together on everything, [and] we put together ideas. Sometimes I just have an idea and I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know if this is what I should do or not, I’m not confident about it,” and Ruby is like, “Let’s do that!” and just gets going on it. You just need to have a can-do attitude like Ruby does. Ruby is super involved with the [Wesleyan Student Assembly] and just knows a ton of people, I [know] a ton of people. Between the two of us, we know a lot of people and we have a great reach as the Disorientation coordinators. I think we’ve accomplished what we want to get done this year. 

We got out a great Disorientation ’23 zine. We’ve encouraged people to speak up about issues that they care about on campus in important ways. We’ve gotten a lot of negative attention from the administration. I used to have a pretty cordial relationship with Michael Roth; it used to be that whenever I saw him, I gave him a fist bump, and maybe I [took] a picture with him. But since I actually ran counter to what he wanted me to be doing, [and] since I actually started putting into practice this idea of activism that he loves to sell about the University, he’s completely changed his tune. I saw him the other day, he gave me a salute. I gave a salute back. We walked on. He gives me that wry smile of his. He’s accused me of being anti-semitic a million times because I believe firmly in the Palestinian cause. I think that’s kind of anathema to what he wants.

It kind of feels like the kind of thing that he holds on to. He’s an old white man with a lot of money and he grew up with a lot of privilege. He has had a lot given to him by living like that in this world, and he’ll hold on to Jewishness as the thing that he can do to guilt other people with. Of course, Jewish people can define how they wish to view their racial identity. But if one appears white, one effectively is white is my view. That’s been a little bit of an unhappy thing. I do sometimes think that if I had just not been involved in Disorientation, I’d have a more peaceful life. But if I had a more peaceful life, I would feel bad. I’d be like, “Man, I’m just sitting on the sidelines while all these things are going on. I’m not helping to push forward any kind of project that I think will be the legacy that I want to leave.”

A: You talked about how you are in the business of knowing people. Why do you think you were nominated for WesCeleb and how do you know so many people on campus?

EH: I think I was nominated for WesCeleb because I’m somebody that a lot of people can point to as a Wesleyan student. I think being social is definitely part of the Wesleyan experience. We live in a very small school, it’s almost impossible to be truly cut off from everybody. Even if you only spend a lot of time in your room and smoke, you could still—on your way to Weshop to buy a bag of chips—run into like eight people you know. Happens to me all the time. 

I think I know a lot of people because I came into the school with the mentality of seeing and meeting people and realizing that what makes me happy, what makes me feel like I’ve lived a full day, is connecting with someone. If I do nothing else in a day other than have a great conversation with someone, it was a good day. If I run a marathon, solve world hunger, talk to Bill Gates, and make a cure for cancer in one day, I haven’t done all that much unless I’ve really sat down with someone and made them feel like they’re cared about.

[For me], knowing a lot of people is not just meeting them, but [also] keeping up with them. I wrote a candidate for the senior speech that was unfortunately not accepted. I think I mentioned a slogan in there, “When in doubt, reach out,” and it’s something that I kind of run by. People will know me as the person who remembers their name and says hi to them whenever I see them. I’m not the type to walk by you if I know you and avert my eyes. The worst thing in the world is when you see somebody walk by them, and both of you guys know that you know each other.

A: That’s the Wesleyan way.

EH: I hate that. I’m trying to change that being the Wesleyan way because sometimes that’s what people do. Get the fuck out of here, seriously, why are you doing this to me? Now we both have the worst day. Why do we have to do that? I don’t want to do that.

A: How has your time at Wesleyan changed that mentality?

EH: Some things changed when I realized that I had met a lot of people. When you go from being a freshman to a senior, there are fewer and fewer people who you see and you’re like, “I’ve never seen you before.” The pool of people to say hello to every day lessens, but that just makes it easier to keep up with everyone. Because we came in during the pandemic, I definitely wanted to connect, feverishly. I honestly wouldn’t have made it through freshman year if it weren’t for [my roommate Tim Stephenson ’23] being a lovely person to talk to and spend time with, but I wanted to know more people, I wanted to be able to just walk around and see friendly faces.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t have that feeling where I’m tired and I don’t want to see anybody today, judging me. I’m an embodied human being. I’m not just a pair of eyes, I have to walk around and people have to perceive me. But along the way I’ve just grown better at casting those thoughts aside. I used to have a moment of, “Should I say hello?” Fuck that. I will say hello, if you don’t hear me, if you’re looking the other way, if you’re wearing headphones, I will still try. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. My friends used to jazz me about that. But it doesn’t bother me, what am I losing there?

A: Looking back on your four years of being here, do you have any advice that you would give to people who are just starting out? 

EH: You shouldn’t take the interactions that you have with other people so seriously or take yourself so seriously. Even when you’re a senior in college, you’re just an undergraduate. I grew up around a lot of pretty well-educated people. I have a job now where I am the stupidest person in the vast majority of rooms I walk into, and I think that helps [me realize] that it’s not super important what I do in college. I can mess up. I love raising my hand in a science class and asking a question that is relatively simple but has a little bit of a jaunt to it that just wasn’t explained in the slides. Nobody has actually ever said that [I asked a stupid question] to me, but some people would say that to themselves. [I wouldn’t say that to myself] because I’ve realized that [I] have a lot to learn. We’re still very young, just don’t take yourself so seriously.

A: You mentioned having a job where everyone is smart, what job are you referring to?

EH: I’m going to be doing research at Boston Children’s Hospital for two years. I’m really lucky to have it, and [I am] excited to go and work there, I’m going to be giving my all. I will be a medical assistant at a place where there are MDs [and] PhDs walking [around] all the time and grad students who are light years ahead of my knowledge of science. It’s humbling to think about, and it’s humbling to remember that I don’t know all that much. But what I do know is talking to people, I’m pretty good at social interaction. I might be, in fact, better at interacting with people than a lot of those MDs and PhDs, because they put a lot of their time into learning science and maybe not so much into their friends.

A: Do you have anything else you want to add?

ES: I think another piece of advice for people is it’s hard to set up a meal with your friends, like a meet-up, because you’re gonna text them and [ask yourself] “What if they say no, or if they’re busy, or if they never respond?” You feel like maybe [you’re] the person who’s always texting other people to get meals or to go and play outside. Part of taking yourself not so seriously is that you’re gonna get way more out of finally getting to that moment where you get to interact with someone and have a good time with them than you are from abstaining from communicating with someone because you feel like you need to take the higher road of being the one who was reached out to as opposed to the person who is doing the reaching out. You get this momentary tinge, [but] those are temporary. Connections can last until you die. It’s not worth putting your pride ahead of having a happy life. I hope people can take that as a summary.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Lia Franklin can be reached at lfranklin@wesleyan.edu.