Thousands of faculty and staff members and students will for the first time together examine a single book this summer and fall as the Campus Community Book Project finds them reading Anne Fadiman's true account of a clash of cultures - The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.

The pilot project emerged from the Campus Council on Community and Diversity with the goal of increasing the campus's understanding and respect for different cultures, said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. "I find this project very exciting and I do believe that active participation by our students, faculty and staff will truly promote a greater sense of community on the campus," she said.

• few campuses nationwide have initiated book projects that find all incoming students reading the same book, said Karen Roth, coordinator of the Diversity Education Program and chair of the book project committee. But the fact that all members of the campus community are involved in the UC Davis project makes it special, she said.
• planning team began meeting in January, and a number of special events and lectures are in the works to complement the reading endeavor.

The campus project comes at a time when California also is engaged in a statewide book program. As part of a new three-year California Stories project, residents throughout the state have been asked to read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath between May and October.

The goal of both projects is to provide opportunities for sharing that lead to stronger, more compassionate communities.

"Our hope is that, as folks are standing in line at the Coffeehouse or waiting for a meeting or class to begin, they might strike up a conversation about the book and what they thought about it," Roth said.

Fadiman's 1997 non-fiction work - a National Book Award winner - explores a conflict that played out during the early 1990s between medical professionals in Merced and an immigrant Hmong family over the care of their daughter, Lia Lee. Lia was diagnosed with severe, debilitative epilepsy. Her parents attributed the malady to spiritual causes and were resistant to treatments prescribed by doctors. While both parties wanted the best for Lia, a breakdown of cultural understanding leads to her being taken out of her home.

"I hope the particular book we have chosen will spark dialogue about what it means to live and work in a multicultural community," Roth said, noting: "We feel confident that people will be changed by it."

Chosen for many reasons

Organizers chose the book for several reasons, she said.

"Certainly the book offers our campus an opportunity to engage in a rich dialogue on how to foster mutual respect in a multicultural environment. Also, the text has broad appeal and application to a variety of disciplines - such as medicine, communication, political science, history, cultural studies, sociology and education."

In addition, there is a tie between the case and the campus, Roth said. The attending physicians in the book are UC Davis Medical School graduates.

• journalist and editor, Fadiman spent years conducting research for the book - talking at length with medical professionals involved in the case and developing a personal relationship with the Lee family.

Committee member Cathy Kudlick, an associate professor of history, says one of the most "adventurous" aspects of the book is how it conscientiously presents American medicine as its own culture. In this way, the book is truly about the clash of two distinct cultures, not simply about a Hmong couple who couldn't understand what was best for their child, she said, noting that book discussion groups that are planned should help underscore that perspective.

"We don't want to reproduce the schism in our own organization," Kudlick said. "If we let it do that, it will totally defeat the purpose of the book project."

Several events planned

Anne Fadiman will speak at the Mondavi Center Dec. 2 as part of the campus's Distinguished Speaker series. "Anne will also attend a class and we are working to put together a panel presentation with her, the doctors and members of the Lee family," Roth said.

Several events are being planned as a prelude to Fadiman's visit, including discussion groups hosted by staff and faculty members across campus and a special kickoff event that is tentatively set for Oct. 16. At the kickoff, May Ying, the interpreter in the book and president of the California Hmong Women's Heritage Association, is expected to speak in the Main Theater.

On Oct. 29, the Staff Assembly Diversity Committee will sponsor a program examining shamanism in the Hmong community and will show the film "The Split Horn" at noon in MUII. Members of the California Health Collaborative Network will facilitate a discussion afterward, Roth said.

The about 20-member book project committee also is working to help organize a mid-November Hmong Culture night. The Hmong Student Union is planning an evening of poetry, dance, art, film-screening, skits and traditional foods for the celebration. Committee members also hope for a visit from Paoze Thao, an associate professor in collaborative education and professional studies at CSU, Monterey Bay, and author of the book Hmong at the Crossroads.

Associate professor of Asian American Studies Wendy Ho is among book project committee members working to coordinate fall quarter campus visits by experts in Hmong and Hmong American history, society and spirituality. She also is looking for scholars who can talk about practices within Hmong culture as they relate to Western perspectives on health and body-soul connections.

An enthusiastic response thus far

Committee members also have been brainstorming ways to encourage participation that truly represents the whole campus. "The objective is to have as many diverse classes, disciplines and divisions in on the action," Ho said.

Letters have been sent to faculty members about joining the effort, Roth said, and the project was announced last week at an Academic Senate Representative Assembly meeting.

Fadiman's book also will play a part in the Chancellor's Fall Conference. The September retreat will bring top administrators from across campus together at Granlibakken in Lake Tahoe to talk about key campus issues. "We plan to have everyone at the conference - about 140 people - read the book before they come, and then use it as a community-building activity during the opening dinner," Roth said.

Summer advisors are reading the book now, and they will encourage first-year students during summer advising to read it before the fall quarter begins, Roth said. Also, letters describing the book project will be sent to newly-admitted students, she said. And Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies Pat Turner plans to add discussion groups on the book to this fall's expanded selection of freshman seminars.

Staff and faculty members also have been coming forward to volunteer as book discussion facilitators, including medical center physicians, co-director of the Chicana/Latina Research Center Yvette Flores-Ortiz, College of Letters and Science Associate Dean Fred Wood and Associate Vice Chancellor for Community Relations Rahim Reed.

"We have been so excited about the enthusiastic response we have received from the campus at large," Roth said.

In addition, Reed has promoted the project at meetings of the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors and the Davis Human Relations Commission. With support from the city and enough volunteers, the project could feasibly be expanded to include Davis activities, Roth said.

The medical center campus also will be involved in hosting several panel discussions and some guest speakers, said Marbella Sala, manager of medical interpreting services and a member of the book project committee. Her offices deal with issues of cultural competency every day.

A good price

The UC Davis Bookstore is offering the book at the discounted rate of $9.95. Bookstore purchasing agent Paul Takushi estimates the store will ultimately sell about 5,000 copies of Fadiman's work. "Of an initial order of 1,000, we've sold about 450 so far," he said, noting a few hundred copies will been on hand at the bookstore at all times.

For more details, see: http://occr.ucdavis. edu/bookproject.html. To volunteer to lead a discussion group, contact Roth at (530) 752-2071 or kmroth@ucdavis.edu. To find out more about leading medical center groups, contact Sala at (916) 734-5395 or msala@ucdavis.edu, or Cindy Oropeza, (916) 734-8104 or cindy.oropeza@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.