| Quotes from the Daily Texan | APAC's Perspectives |
| APAC doesn't represent me Yiheng Feng 9/28/05 In regards to Monday's article on the Asian Pacific American Coalition's report to President Faulkner, it is the opinion of this Asian that the article illustrates some disturbing trends in the ever ridiculous expansion of political correctness. Most worrying is the drawing of opinions and experiences from some of the members of APAC to write this report, and the unwillingness of APAC to provide documentation on some of their claims. While I am certain that prejudice and racism towards Asians and Asian-Americans exists, I do not appreciate being represented by a select few - especially when that select few have a distinct agenda that may not match my own. Asians and Asian-Americans constitute a significant percentage of the student body at the University. By our very presence, we make a bold statement as to our undeniably important role in the future of this country. But this victim mentality that the report appears to project seems not only over blown, but counterproductive. Please, APAC, do not profess to speak for all Asian-Americans on campus. Not all of us are as troubled by identity issues as you would suggest. Yiheng Feng |
#1 PLEASE READ THE REPORT
Ian (Yiheng) has confirmed that he did not read the report when he wrote this firing line. By looking at the "bold presence" of Asian Americans in numbers that Yiheng talks about should mean that Asian Americans should get the same resources available to them that other students get. Unfortunately, we don't and thus, the creation of the report. What's even worse is that when Asian Americans choose to inquire into why, people like Yiheng, who have not read the report or attended the meeting, conclude that fighting for equality means playing victim. The Counseling and Mental Health Center have already begun their search process for a Counselor with Asian American experience, so I ask, how has APAC's raising concerns with administrators been "counterproductive" like Yiheng's claim? I am very secure in my identity as an Asian American, which is precisely why I will speak up when my peers and my community are being discriminated against. It is also why APAC will not release documentation about the hate crimes part of our report, to protect the people involved. And no, those people are not us. Most of the experiences within the report are not that of APAC's own, but people who have used the Multicultural Information Center, where we are housed, as a resource and safe place. The admins in the meeting have commented on how well documented our report is. Why is it that people find it threatening when an Asian American doesn't act according to the passive, silent minority stereotype that we impose on each other? And also, what is APAC's agenda that Ian claims to know? Stop by our office in the SSB and get to know us. Pick up a copy of the report and understand that just because the Daily Texan chose to focus and misrepresent a very minute section (2 pages out of a 100) the report on 'Hate Crimes and Racial profiling' chapter, the report is not limited to this concern. -APAC |
| APAC doesn't represent me John Tran 10/06/05 So I've been following this whole APAC controversy thing for a couple of weeks now, and I find it quite hilarious. I'm reading the shots that are being fired back and forth and I got to put my two cents in. Being a junior here at UT, which makes it my third year at the University, and up until probably two weeks ago, I've never even heard of APAC. I read about APAC's ranting and raving about being the voice of the Asian community on campus, but how is that possible when I have never even heard of the organization until just recently? I don't remember them asking for my opinion. So being an Asian-American student, I asked my other Asian-American friends what APAC was, they too didn't know who this group was. I only found out about APAC and what they stood for through a friend of mine who's in Student Government, and he's not even Asian. My friends and I do not want a group that we never even heard of to so-call "represent us and our interests" without our consent or our own personal opinions and inputs. John Tran |
#2 APAC'S ROLE APAC is an agency of the Multicultural Information Center, which reports to and gets money the Office of Vice President of Student Affairs. It is not just an Asian American organization on campus, it has very specific functions and roles, just as the other ethnic agencies in the MIC have. APAC and the MIC serve as a safe space for Asian Americans and provide various resources. Students have, and still do, turn to APAC and the MIC when they are confronted with issues of identity, discrimination, or student affairs. The space and the support is available to any student that seeks it. Most students don't know the names or operations of majority of the agencies and committees in Student Government, in various centers on campus (Student Advocates for Nonviolence Committee, Center for Women and Gender Studies, etc.). Yet, these entities still represent various populations of the student body. There are also over 60+ Asian American organizations and groups at UT. Do all Asian Americans know the names of all of them? |
| Understanding APAC
It is my opinion that Yiheng Feng (Sept. 28 Firing Line) does not understand what APAC is trying to do for historically underrepresented groups. This meeting was done to provide awareness of racial profiling; bringing issues that may not only concern Asians/Asian Americans, but other ethnic groups as well. The thing that shocks me is that he would state that he "[does] not appreciate being represented by a select few [APAC] - especially when that select few have a distinct agenda that may not match my own." What's not to appreciate? Many Asian/Asian Americans have been a victim of hate crimes or racial profiling, but choose not to report it. APAC's goal is to fight for the people who have been wronged by a way of prejudiced thinking. As an Asian-American, I have nothing but respect and admiration for what they do. But don't get me wrong, I am not saying that it is "un-Asian" to go against APAC or their cause. I am saying that as individuals, we can have our opinions which derive from our own experiences. But as a whole, would you not agree that we (the Asian community) have to at least try to defend ourselves when we have become victims to prejudices or racial profiling? What APAC is doing are steps to our defense; providing examples of racial profiling and foreseeing a solution. Yiheng Feng also "... unwillingness of APAC to provide documentation on some of their claims." He seems to have missed the part where APAC could not release the information about these "claims" because they "wanted to protect the identities" of the victims. When I read this article, I felt a mocking and condescending attitude towards APAC, calling them a member of an information center when they can not provide information. Try not to sway to the tempo of the article, and try to see that APAC is working for improving student life. Jonathan Yau |
Thank you for your support! |
| Texan doesn't know the facts Aaron Martinez 10/13/05 I am writing in response to the poorly written, hastily assembled article on Asian-Pacific Americans. It seems to me this article was written for the express purpose of helping APAC create a racial problem on campus where there is none. In it, the co-director of APAC claims that the organization is "not trying to represent everyone [who is Asian]." If they are not trying to represent all Asians, then who are they trying to represent? Are they really representing anyone at all? How do they determine the cutoff of which Asians to represent and which ones not to? Next, APAC laments about lack of a counselor who can meet the special "needs" of Asian students. What exactly are these "needs?" As a minority Hispanic student, I don't have any special "needs" that only a Hispanic counselor could understand. So why are Asians any different? It seems to me that they want an Asian counselor for the sole purpose of saying they have one, a poor criteria to determine who is the best person for the job. But the best part about the article was the pie chart indicating the racial breakdown of the campus. Apparently, there are exactly the same amount of Latino students as there are black students. But the Latino students must all be incredibly overweight, because they take up such a huge chunk of the pie compared to the incredibly thin and athletic black students. Could the designer of the chart be trying to imply a stereotype of both blacks and Latinos? Also, the percentages add up to 89.5 percent, implying that 10.5 percent of the students on campus are so reprehensible that they aren't even worth mentioning. If the Texan wants its readers to take it seriously, it should think long and hard before giving coverage to such poor arguments, and it should certainly make sure it publishes charts that look like they were designed by someone with at least a grade school education. Aaron Martinez |
#3 ANITA AHMED MISQUOTED APAC Co-director, Anita Ahmed was misquoted in the Texan. What she actually shared with Zach, the Daily Texan reporter was that it would be impossible to represent such a diverse group of people. We cannot, and are not, an umbrella organization because an umbrella entity governs the groups that serve under the umbrella, and we are not a governing force. We want to act as a unity organization that wants to build coalition between East Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander, and South Asian and Desi groups. We believe our programs help do that. We still want to represent the Asian American students who have come to us seeking help, and putting a misquoted, chopped statement implying that we don't want to represent various Asian identities make it seem like we may be exclusionary with who we want to represent. This will sway people from seeking help from us if they don't feel like they fit mainstream Asian American standards. ASIAN AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS The pie chart and it's stats were not provided by APAC. |
| Going against equality Chris Hsiao 10/13/05 The Asian Pacific American Coalition claim that it is "...not trying to be an umbrella organization" and is "...not trying to represent everyone" is preposterous when it releases a report titled "The State of Asian American Affairs." If they really didn't mean for it to represent everyone and envelop the whole minority, they'd have released it under the name "Why Anita Ahmed and the APAC are angry." Having a counselor to specifically discuss Asian-American issues is a ridiculous waste of money and goes against equality. If it really is equal rights you want, go see a regular counselor. If you want special rights, then demand a special counselor for Asian-Americans. Just don't complain when you're being treated differently. You did ask for it. Chris Hsiao |
#4 ARE ASIAN AMERICANS NOT "REGULAR?"
Please look at the response above regarding Anita Ahmed being misquoted. What does Chris mean by a "regular" counselor? Is the Asian American identity not normal? Due to national trends and data of Asian American mental health needs, it is necessary for the Counseling and Mental Health Center to have an Asian American counselor. In fact, because the Center recognized this need, they have been in the search process for an APA counselor. And what APAC was asking for was not a counselor, but rather an apology for the way they were treated by the Director and its staff for asking questions about getting a counselor. Please look at the response above for more info on Asian American mental health. |
| Web-exculsive firing lines | |
| PAC needs a new name 10/13/05 As for the attacks on CMHC officials, I have this to say: Get over it. From what I understood in the article (I could be wrong), APAC wanted people of their race represented by University Mental Health Services, the officials gave examples of how they are accomplishing this and were then ridiculed for "tokenizing" those employees. Tell me how Asians are represented without naming one - that's one hell of a catch-22. Spend less time searching for things to be offended about, and you may be more productive. Nonetheless, who's to say quality mental services can't be provided by a race other than your own? A good counselor is a good counselor, regardless of race, gender or cultural background. Their job is to listen, direct and facilitate the positive mental health of their patients. You need an education to perform that job, not a specific skin color or origin. To quote Anita Ahmed "We're not trying to be an umbrella organization. We're not trying to represent everyone." This made me think, why not? Seems to me you have an agenda - if I had to guess, to build your resume by making a big deal about problems that could solved in a much more productive manner - that not everyone agrees with. If you're going to name your organization with a specific race, your organization represents that race. If you want to represent your own views, call yourself the Anita Ahmed Coalition. At least it would be accurate. Mark Stein |
#5 PLEASE READ THE REPORT FIRST APAC wanted an Asian American counselor with experience working with Asian American communities and issues. The Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC) have counselors available for African American, Latino, female, GLBTQ populations but have left their Asian American population vacant for over a year. For more on Asian American mental health issues, please look at the responses above. When we questioned the vacancy, the CMHC named people on their staff who happened to be Asian American, but were not available for counseling and did not have adequate counseling experience with Asian American issues. The CMHC chose to tokenize their staff, whereas we wanted to stay away from tokenizing individuals. One of the questions we asked in our letter to CMHC and at the meeting questioned what their diversity training was and if Asian American issues are taught in the center. In any regards, if you read the article, the CMHC agrees that an Asian American counselor is very much needed and our meetings with them have led to a new search process for a counselor with Asian American experience, and some of us are part of that search process. What we are asking for is an apology, not whether an Asian American counselor is needed, because that is obvious. As far as Anita Ahmed being misquoted, please look at response #3. There is no ulterior agenda except to get the administration to address Asian American student issues. Anita Ahmed has actually put herself at more risk by choosing to speak about it. |
| APAC story not newsworthy 10/13/05 I just don't get it. You make a huge front page story with no concrete evidence in it. The whole article seems to ramble on, repeating the point that APAC has written a huge book that would cause numerous campus groups to protest the wasting of trees. The one point you do show is that there are no Asian-American counselors available to help with culturally-specific issues. There is a thing I'd like to point out called supply and demand. To cut it short, there is no supply of Asian-American counselors in the area, so the demand has to go unfulfilled until one is located. Using the analogy of women counselors doesn't exactly work either, since they make up a majority of those in the profession last time I checked. On your great pie graph, why are Hispanics and African-Americans so different in size when their numbers are exactly the same? The next thing to make front page news better not be that the lunch ladies' hair nets aren't exactly holding back their hair. And don't get me started on paying money out-of-pocket to fund a statue that I don't fully support, while you want to rip down statues representing much of our state history. Kevin Arnold |
#6 YOU ARE RIGHT, YOU DON'T GET IT The supply and demand theory does not work when UT uses national searches when searching to fill positions in its staff. Even if Asian American counselors are minute in numbers, for a school who owes 14% of it's population to Asian Americans, it needs to address the needs of this large constituency, especially since this same group has extremely high need of mental health care. For more info on Asian American mental health, please check response #3. The pie graph and it's info was not produced by APAC. |
| APAC needs a new name II 10/13/05 Anita Ahmed claims that APAC is "not trying to be an umbrella organization" for Asians. If that is the case, may I humbly suggest not using an organization name that includes no less than 20 percent of the UT population and the world in general? Christopher Ha |
Please look at Response #3 |
| Pie chart leads readers astray 10/13/05 The pie chart on the front page of today's Texan is inaccurate and misleading. The percentages in the pie chart do not reflect the numerical data. If there are 44,615 students in total, 64.1 percent should be white, 16 percent should be Asian-American, 4.1 percent should be black, 4.1 percent should be Hispanic, .5 percent should be American Indian and 11.2 percent should be foreign/unknown. As it is, the percentages given on the pie chart add up to 89.5 percent, not 100 percent. A few percentage points of inaccuracy would be forgivable as rounding error, but when the total is off by more than 10 percent, when the numbers are given with precision to the nearest tenth of a percent, there is a serious error. The section of the pie chart labeled "Hispanic" is significantly bigger than the section labeled "Black." Yet, according to the numbers, both groups make up 3.7 percent of the student population. Instead, the section labeled "Hispanic" is approximately the same size as the section labeled "Asian-American," which makes up 14.3 percent of the population. Race is a delicate topic, as The Daily Texan's article shows. Why make the situation worse through carelessness? Christina Skelton |
The pie graph was not produced by APAC. |
| APAC needs a new name III 10/13/05 "APAC wants to be our collective voice... That is our mission. That is our vision." APAC considers themselves the unity group for all Asian-American organizations on campus, as per their Web site mission statement. However, co-director Anita Ahmed told the Daily Texan Wednesday that APAC "[is] not trying to be an umbrella organization. We're not trying to represent everyone." Can anyone spell c-o-n-t-r-a-d-i-c-t-i-o-n? APAC continually complains about unjust treatment at the University. As an Asian-American, I'd like to protest my own unfair representation - by the APAC. I'm all about this minority having a voice here at the University, but I'm less than happy about being represented by a group that can't even maintain a uniform position. Isn't it ironic that, although they protest the University's lack of individual attention for Asian-Americans, they didn't bother to consult me or my numerous like-minded Asian-American friends for our votes of approval? Despite the confusing vagueness of their various complaints, I can dimly make out the goal for which APAC is striving. Their hearts may be in the right place, but their arguments and logic are not. Perhaps when they pull their act together to make coherent demands, the fire of righteous anger will burn strongly enough within me to offer them more than Midol. Katherine Fan |
Please look at response #3 |
Have comments? Email ut.apac@gmail.com