Name: Minh Ha
Year: 2013
Major(s): Political Science and International Relations (Concentration: Europe and the former Soviet Union)
Hometown: Denver, Colorado
How did you become interested in Tufts?
When I was starting my college search, one of my closest friends from home who was a senior had just been accepted by Tufts. And my college counselor also introduced me to Tufts, and told me that it was a great school.
What activities do you do around campus?
I am part of Tufts Hawaii Club, and I was the Vice President of the club two years ago, when it was re-founded. Most of my tasks have to do with preparing for the big luau, which is the club’s largest annual event. I was also one of the Tufts interns for the Elizabeth Warren senatorial campaign last year. I got to go on the campaign trail, and I was responsible for getting students at Tufts and other schools, like UMass Dartmouth, to register to vote. We had a small competition with other campuses, to see who could get the most Warren supporters to register. We tied with MIT. Tufts has a significantly smaller population than MIT, but we had a lot more interns, which helped us get a lot of votes. Tufts students are generally very politically active, and I am proud of that.
I heard you are also involved with The Vagina Monologues, no?
I’m not directly involved with The Vagina Monologues, but I really wanted to audition for it. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to do it.
So may I ask why you decided to shave your head to raise money for the play?
There were a lot of reasons. One was that I’ve always wanted to do it. You have to have major balls to be a girl with super long hair and shave it all off, so it was a test of how badass I thought I could be. But beyond the superficial reason, I’ve thought a lot about what it means to be a woman, and how so many women’s rights issues have been resuscitated over the past few years, especially in politics. I also reflected upon my experience abroad in Spain, and being objectified by the men there. All of these events just kind of organically came together and encouraged me to take these challenging thoughts and experience to another level by letting go of my appearance.
What happened in Spain?
My girlfriends and I got stared at a lot, and at parties, men would just come up and grope us in highly inappropriate places, and talk to us as if we were sexual objects.
Do you think it might be a cultural thing in Spain?
It might be, but no woman, no matter what culture she is from, appreciates being objectified and grabbed by strangers.
I agree. How much funds did you raise from shaving your head?
We raised $3,500!
That’s awesome. From your experience with The Vagina Monologues, what can you say about women’s issues at Tufts?
There are many senior girls who have come to support the show, which I think is a reflection of the fact that they have not had the opportunity to voice problems they have experienced. But recently, women’s rights and women’s issues have definitely popped out of Tufts as a major issue like the change in the sexual assault policy. The Vagina Monologues is setting a precedent in making people more aware of how to treat women.
Who is your hero?
I have two—a serious one, and a silly one. My serious one is my mom, and she is one of the reasons why I decided to shave my head and support The Vagina Monologues. She has been through a lot as a woman, as a wife, and as a mom. And being a Vietnamese refugee and tackling the issue of being a woman in America when she had no idea what that means—she is just awesome in general.
My silly hero is Tupac. He was a great poet, and he was intelligent and had strong morals even though he was in the rap industry.
Any words for the younger Jumbos?
Fletcher students are going to hate me, but go study in Ginn.
The Vagina Monologues performances are at 8:00pm on February 22 and 23, at Cohen Auditorium. Get your tickets at the Campus Center or at www.tuftstickets.com! Find out more about the play at www.read-our-lips.com.