UW professor gives work to Indonesia
The Seattle Times
June 27, 2006 Tuesday
Fourth Edition
He studied conflict in Southeast Asia - Retired researcher battling lung cancer
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
In decades of research on political conflict in Southeast Asia, University of Washington professor Dan Lev accumulated dozens of boxes filled with notes, documents and books.
Now seven years retired and battling lung cancer, he has decided to give his work to those he believes will benefit from it the most: young scholars in Indonesia.
Traditionally, when professors retire, they donate their collections to their university’s libraries. And while the UW libraries will keep some of his materials, Lev, in an unusual move, is sending the bulk of it to The Center for Study of Law and Policy, a nongovernmental organization in Jakarta. The center is made up of 25 to 30 young lawyers who do research primarily on reform issues in the nation.
Lev, 72, began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, and came to the UW in the 1970s. He retired from the UW in 1999, after years as a political-science professor and researcher. He also established the political-science honors program.
His research, accumulating materials dating from the 1950s, has focused on politics, religion, judicial change and reform, ideology, professionals and historical change, he said.
During his many trips to Indonesia, Lev worked closely with scholars, journalists, reformers and the military to further the cause of human rights in Indonesia, said Judith Henchy, head of the UW libraries’ Southeast Asia section.
“His courage has been a great inspiration to a number of young scholars in Indonesia who often worked in an atmosphere of great fear and oppression,” she said.
Lev worked to empower lawyers and political scientists who formed many of the nongovernmental organizations that contributed to the student movement against the government in the 1990s, Henchy said.
Lev also embraced the language and culture of Indonesia; he often speaks with colleagues in an Indonesian language, and much of the material he’s sending back his own writings and those of others is in the native language.
His influence has been evidenced in recent months as many people have come from Indonesia to visit, debating policy for one last time or just saying goodbye to their friend.
“These visits have meant good conversation, a continuation and sometimes renewal of friendships,” he said.
It was important to him to send the materials he utilized in his research over the years back to others to aid in their research, Henchy said. The most recent shipment involved 17 boxes, and some materials still remain. And though the UW libraries offered to foot the bill for shipping, he paid for the majority of the shipping costs, calling it a “debt of honor.”
U.S. research in other countries has often involved bringing valuable materials back to U.S. libraries materials that would be just as valuable to their homelands, Lev said.
“I wanted to make sure the young scholars who desperately need them have them back,” he said.
Lev hopes his actions will spread a larger message about the importance of setting up air-conditioned, archival resources in every nation, so research materials will be preserved and made available to all.
“We must convince people here and elsewhere to pay real attention to education,” he said. “People need places to sit and study that are well-stocked with material. We must give young scholars the materials they need.”
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