This piece represents the opinion of the author.
Last week, Bowdoin alum Kevin Ma posted a response to my op-ed, “Rename the Orient.” Ma makes some excellent points about the need for people to truly hear Asian stories and voices. I wish to elaborate further on these points, as well as address his and others’ arguments against my piece.
The most common counter-arguments to renaming the Orient that I’ve seen in response to my op-ed are arguments of context. Latin etymology, the intent that went into the initial naming of the Bowdoin Orient, the fact that it’s a newspaper—all of these arguments miss the point. It doesn’t matter what the word “Orient” once meant; what matters is what “Orient” has become.