It was just another busy day in the airport, hundreds of
travellers going on vacation, coming home, visiting friends. But
for fourth-year electrical engineering student Ajish Antony, who is
of Asian descent, this was also just another day that he would be
reminded of his race ““ reminded he was different.
Waiting for a flight, Antony took a seat in front of a terminal
near two white men. As Antony sat down, the individuals immediately
stood up and sat elsewhere. Antony said he thought it was because
of his race.
“That was nuts,” Antony said.
Discrimination toward Asian Americans may not be as blatant as
it used be, but it still exists, he said.
For some Asian American students, this discrimination is part of
the reason they support the implementation of affirmative action,
even though they attend a university that saw an increase in Asian
American enrollment after race-conscious admissions were
abandoned.
Affirmative action would benefit Asian Americans, especially in
the work force, said Asian Pacific Coalition Director David
Chung.
In police departments, fire departments and even on the UCLA
faculty, Asian Americans are underrepresented, Chung said. But it
is less clear whether affirmative action benefits Asian Americans
students in higher education.
After the passage of Proposition 209, a measure that prohibited
state agencies from using race as a factor in admissions or hiring,
the admittance of Asian American students into the University of
California slightly increased. Other ethnic groups’
enrollment declined.
Some students feel Asian Americans do not need affirmative
action as they are already sufficiently represented on campus.
“There are so many Asians everywhere already,” said
third-year history student Kristy Lim.
Lim said she attributes this fact to the possibility that
society thinks higher of her minority group than other groups.
Despite the large number of Asian Americans that do attend college,
many students still feel that there are Asian American communities
that are underrepresented in higher education.
The myth that Asian Americans are a “model minority”
is not true, said Asian Pacific Coalition External Director
Elizabeth Cajayon. The argument is often used by people opposed to
race-conscious admissions who use the Asian American community as
an example of a minority group succeeding based on hard work and
not what some call “race preferences.”
“When we look at the information … we can find out which
communities are suffering,” Cajayon said.
For example, there is a low admittance of Pacific Islanders and
Vietnamese students at the college level, Cajayon said.
Most students agreed that in the implementation of affirmative
action, all Asian Americans should not be lumped into one category
but broken down into sub-categories of different communities.
“People need to recognize the diversity within the
community. … A lot of groups are denied a higher
education,” Chung said.
Students of South Asian descent agreed they needed their own
race classification.
“We don’t count because we get lumped into a group
that is already represented,” Antony said.
Students had difficulty pin-pointing which communities actually
constituted the Asian American community.
Lim said when she hears the term “Asian,” she
usually associates it with descendants of mainland Asia.
Third-year computer science student Devinder Navang of Indian
descent also said he does not consider himself
“Asian.”
Some students even said they thought affirmative action
didn’t apply to the Asian American community.
“I don’t think it’s beneficial for us … I
always thought it was in place for blacks and Latinos,”
Navang said.
Though first-year undeclared student Jenny Ly said she supported
a system that gave people from low-income backgrounds more
opportunities, she still agreed it helped Latinos and African
Americans more than Asian Americans.
Other students simply opposed affirmative action altogether.
“It degrades the whole college experience,” said
first-year biology student Susanne Chuea. “I am sure people
who are qualified will get in.”