Inside the Asian Student Center. Photo by Ulia Ahn

If on a sunny day, someone on the street asks a Chinese student whether they are from China, what would you guess they would answer? Most likely “yes,” right? But you might hear “no” in recent years, “‘because if you are, I’m getting the f— away from you.’”, as heard by Cynthia Liu, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Asians have lived in the U.S. for more than 150 years, accompanied by the gruesome hardship of racial discrimination. But appropriate recognition of Asian international students’ identity and culture is lagging behind on college campuses across the country. We need more attention. Inequality is not just a technical term used in academic communication. Research shows that Asian students are more reserved and tend to work out their problems by themselves as molded by their culture. So while they are generally high-achievers in the class setting, it is no surprise that Asians are often reluctant to speak up publicly against discriminatory incidents on college campuses. 

The number of Asian international students in the U.S. has increased from 461,903 in the 2010-11 academic year to 768,260 in the 2018-19 pre-pandemic era. They constitute more than half of the international students  in total, among which China, India and South Korea are the top three nationalities identified. Despite their tuition payments and diverse cultural backgrounds being vital assets to high-end universities, Asian international students are undervalued and mistreated under the surface.

Discrimination and racism surged especially during the pandemic. Racist slurs and hateful phrases like “Go back to your country!” have been appearing everywhere on social media and, not surprisingly, on college campuses as well. In early Feb. 2022, after Harvard University (Ma.) student Michael Cheng was elected as Harvard Undergraduate Council (UC) president, a flier appeared outside his residential house containing disgusting and “deplorable” anti-Asian attacks. Noting that the time of his election was not long after the chaotic U.S. midterm election in November 2021, he postulated that his Asian identity and some of his decisions regarding this elite American university had triggered this cacophony of racist retaliation. 

This is far from a lone incident. Ohio State University students rallied and protested on campus in April 2021, demanding for clearer and stronger support for Asian students’ physical and mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic. And just a couple months prior, University of Wisconsin Madison students protested the assault of a Chinese Ph.D. student. Similar incidents have happened again and again, but the support from the university administration or students seems no more likely to change the status quo.

The racist attacks have been partly due to lack of recognition in the daily interactions between Asian students and those with different nationalities. The Oxford campus at Emory University is a place where you can clearly observe a lack of effort by school administration to raise awareness of Asian international students. You might be able to see student-run clubs doing various cultural workshops or talent shows, but there are hardly enough events from the administration promoting the Asian community. 

On a broader level, “model minority” tags on Asians reflect the common misconception of their identity. In fact, the immaculate resume and excellent test scores of many Asians don’t end up granting them offers from elite institutions, largely due to racial preferences. The lawsuit against Harvard University (Ma.) and the University of North Carolina on their race-conscious admission process or affirmative action policy regenerated a sweeping reaction from the Asian community, which has long been struggling to understand why their peers from a different ethnicity can get into a better college with a similar application portfolio. Even when they perform better than their classmates in high school, they are not guaranteed an even starting point.

With all that being said, I sincerely wish more people would advocate for Asian students. With more awareness in the education system, there are lower chances that anti-Asian hate will continue to spiral in the United States.

Thereby, U.S. college campuses should actively put into more action to help construct more vibrant, versatile interactions between Asian and other ethnic groups and reduce the sense of isolation, as exemplified by the Asian Student Center (ASC). Emory students should be more alert of any potential discriminative, racist infringements of Asian students’ rights. Emory administration should foster a closer cooperation between the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and the international student program to address the encroaching disparity for Asian students. And finally I call for more non-Asian students scripting for Asian students in the U.S., more than just Asian students and professors alone.

John Wang (23Ox) is majoring in neuroscience and behavioral biology and philosophy.

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John Wang (23Ox) is majoring in neuroscience and behavioral biology and philosophy.