Asian Americans petition for AAP minority status
Current status perpetuates ‘model minority myth,’ tutors say
By Jennifer K. Morita
A group of Academic Advancement Program tutors are circulating a
petition to get Asian Americans recognized in the university’s
support service for underrepresented minorities.
The program, which provides tutoring and counseling for
historically underrepresented minorities and low-income students,
now offers its services to Asian Americans and Caucasian students
only if they can prove their low-income status, said program
director C.Adolfo Bermeo.
Under California law, Asian American groups are not considered
historically underrepresented, said Tooktook Thongthiraj, an AAP
tutor.
Since the start of AAP in 1970, most Asian American groups have
been excluded from underrepresented minority status, Bermeo said.
African Americans, Chicanos, Latinos, Pacific Islanders and
Filipino Americans, however, do have underrepresented minority
status.
But Asian American students who don’t have low-income status are
slipping through the cracks, and their inability to gain
underrepresented minority status goes against the ideals of
affirmative action, tutors said.
"It’s perpetuating the model minority myth," Thongthiraj said.
"They’re not considered low-income students but they can’t afford
to pay $10 to $25 for private tutoring."
Although Asian Americans are showing success in their numbers at
top universities, tutors say that these statistics are not enough
to ensure a secure future.
"In the past eight to 10 years the numbers of Asian Americans in
college has risen," said AAP tutor Lahn S. Kim. "That doesn’t mean
they don’t have needs to be met.
"If we accept that Asian Americans are no longer a minority,
we’re saying that they don’t need any help," Kim said. "There’s
still profound discrimination against Asian Americans once they get
out of school. Success in school doesn’t equate success in the
future."
One tutor told a story about one of his students who wanted
tutoring through the program but was denied services because she
could not prove her low-imcome status.
"She was Korean," AAP tutor Daniel Barnardi said. "The argument
is that Asian Americans have earned parity in academics, meaning
there are enough of them in universities in relation to the
community.
"But their parity isn’t universal," he said. "There is still
discrimination."
Most recently, the Academic Advancement Program has made an
exception for one Asian American group — Filipino Americans — and
if it can make one exception it can make others, Barnardi said.
Filipino Americans were considered historically underrepresented
by the UC system until ten years ago, Bermeo said.
"The fact is that most Filipinos are from working class and
low-income backgrounds," he said. "AAP simply continued to consider
them under that status."
Students who don’t qualify for AAP do have other options such as
college tutorials in Griffin Commons.
"AAP’s first priority is to low-income and underrepresented
minority students," Bermeo said. "If we opened services to all
students we just wouldn’t have the resources."
Tutors plan to eventually present Bermeo with their petition,
which has about 200 signatures so far. They want to encourage him
to seek outside funds from Asian American businesses in order to
support additional students.
"AAP does a tremendous amount of good," Barnardi said. "It
brings people together. If you walk into a tutoring lab you’ll see
African Americans, Filipinos, Latinos and some Native Americans
sitting down together struggling to get a grip on their
courses.
"We’re just asking the director to support us so we can bring
even more students together," Barnardi said.