Although Asians are the largest minority group at the University, making up approximately 12 percent of the student population, many students and faculty say they are oftentimes marginalized in the typical dichotomy of black and white race relations.
Coinciding with Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Month and Take Back the Night, two facebook groups about Asian women have had attention called to them by various students. One group was formerly called "Americans for the Increased Importation of Asian Women" and the second was titled "People for the Propagation of Asian Fetish."
Although many people have said they considered the groups to be racist and were offended and disturbed, some others have said the groups are harmless, because they represent only a small online population that is not actively harming the Asian community.
"I understand how it can be offensive to Asian Americans as well as other people On-Grounds," Maryann Lee, a first-year College student and member of "Americans for the Increased Importation of Asian Women," said.
She said her boyfriend created this group on facebook as a response to the second group and his intentions were to celebrate the positive aspects of Asian women.
"I just think that there is a certain distinction between when jokes are taken too far and when some things can be said in jest," Lee said.
Lee said she feels that her group was blown out of proportion and added that she sees a problem when all facebook groups are taken seriously.
"When something that is intended sarcastically or tongue-in-cheek can be manipulated to be something offensive, it is very negative on the community as well as to the people who did not have these intentions," Lee said.
Yet Asian student leaders said racially charged incidents against Asian students are taking place on a daily basis at the University and often ignored.
Asian Student Union President Drew Austria said he personally knows of three recent racial incidents against Asian students.
"A male Asian student was called a 'towelhead' and 'Osama' on 14th Street, two Asian students were called 'yao ming' and 'chink' outside a bar on the Corner, and a Filipino male walking down the hallway at Brown College was suspected of being the serial rapist, because he is dark skinned and was wearing black," Austria said.
Daisy Rodriguez, assistant dean for Asian and Asian-Pacific-American students, said she is aware of a number of occasions in which South Asian students wearing turbans as a symbol of their Sikh religion have been called "terrorists" or "Osama bin Laden."
Rodriguez said the general University community does not put Asian-American insults, such as "chinks," on the same level as African-American insults like "the n-word," because students commonly lack knowledge of the historical context in which the racial slurs were derived.
She said both terms are demeaning references to a group of people that minimizes their place in society.
Because the recent incidents of racial intolerance towards Asians were made informally, the victims chose to walk away from the situation and not to pursue it any further, Austria said.
"I'm sure that there are more incidents that are happening, but for whatever reason the Asian students are not sharing or reporting it," Rodriguez said.
Doug Lee, the outgoing Co-Chair of Peer Advising and Family Network, a program designed to connect incoming Asian-Pacific-American students with upper-classmen, said he attributes the silence about racial incidents against Asians to the general climate of apathy within the University community in regards to issues that do not involve black or white students.
"Every minority group gets discriminated in one way or another, but sometimes there is no adequate response when it happens to Asian students," Lee said.
Austria concurred with Lee's sentiments.
"I think that when it comes to issues of discrimination involving Asian Americans, they are often times overlooked or not given enough resources because diversity is seen as black and white," he said.
Rodriguez also said that the racial discourse at the University tends to have a black and white dynamic because it is easy to buy into the fact that Asian students are not discriminated against.
Many Asian students expressed the need for a centralized location where they can go to report racial incidents.
Assistant College Dean Beverly Adams said there is no way to quantify whether the number of racial incidents have increased or decreased in comparison to the past because there is no central way of reporting them to the University.
Adams, however, said a committee consisting of faculty, staff and a student representative was formed in January and is developing a way to provide students with a formal location to report racial incidents.
"Oftentimes, I think that students just do not know where to go and who to talk to or are afraid that they may be perceived as too sensitive or overreacting," Adams said.
Adams added that she has the sense that African-American students feel that their voice will be heard if they speak while Asian students may not feel that way.
Rodriguez said that although racial incidents against Asian students are not being reported in the same number as racial incidents against African- American students, she would respond to them in much the same way when they are reported to her.
She said it is important for Asian students to report every incident because the administration needs to be aware that these things are happening at the University in order to be responsive.
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