ASUU Unanimously Passes Resolution to Support Asian Students
(Chronicle archives)
June 3, 2022
ASUU has proposed a joint resolution in support of the Asian members of the University of Utah community because of the increase of Anti-Asian hate and violence during the pandemic.
The resolution includes recommendations for an Asian Student Resource Center on campus, adding a section on Asian-American history to current American history courses and an Anti-Asian Hate and Bias Taskforce to be established under the Anti-Racism Committee.
In 2021, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 339% across the United States. This increase was significantly higher than in 2020 which saw a 124% increase compared to 2019.
The resolution passed the Assembly and Senate unanimously.
Serena Aeschilman, ASUU senator for the college of engineering for the 2021-2022 academic year and senate sponsor of the resolution, said these resources are needed for Asian students because many don’t see them as people of color.
“By having that resource, it might bring more awareness to show that we’re also a minority and there should be a resource for us,” Aeschilman said.
In the proposal for an Asian Student Resource Center on campus, the resolution recommends full-time staff members and a physical location to “provide a physical, emotional and mental safe space for Asian students.”
Mike Park, a recent University of Utah graduate who has been involved in activism in the Asian-American community, said he was approached last fall to help with the resolution by Tiffany Chan, former ASUU vice president of university relations.
Park said he saw this resolution as an important opportunity to implement systematic change at an institution that is the flagship higher education institution in the state.
“So if this institution can do it, then I feel like it would have a really widespread kind of rippling effect throughout the state or the country or you know, that’s the hope at least,” Park said.
They’ll be contacting the Black Cultural Center and American Indian Resource Center to help the process of getting an Asian Student Resource Center.
“We want to get as much help and support from them before we go to admin because quite frankly, more often than not, admin are pretty skeptical when it comes to big proposals like this, especially when we are requesting a physical space for this resource center,” Chan said.
While the resolution has passed through ASUU, this doesn’t mean the school administration will implement the recommendations. Aeschilman explained the resolution just shows ASUU supports the recommendations and it’s something supported by the students.
After the resolution passes, it will be sent to the Office of the President and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and these offices will have 60 days to provide a written response.
The resolution also recommends an Asian student advisory council be created for representation at the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion meetings.
At the U, Asian-identifying undergraduate students make up the third-largest demographic group and the second-largest group among faculty members.
“The Asian community at this school really is quite large,” Park said. “The fact that we don’t have something that’s, you know, representative or supporting this community to us was very concerning.”
John Hedberg • Jun 3, 2022 at 7:42 pm
“Re-Tweet” (edited)
I think it may be time to acknowledge there’s been a rise in discrimination and assault against all groups, I think largely because politicians find it convenient to tell us we all hate each other in order to get us to march and donate, so they get the power they want, while they let things get worse for all of us. I think it’s highly likely there has been a rise in anti-Asian violence, not because of the supposed origin of the pandemic in Wuhan, but because the political class is constantly telling us and reinforcing us into identity groups they then play off against each other. 2 years ago, burning Asian businesses in disadvantaged neighborhoods was considered politically righteous, as was excluding Asians from top colleges like Harvard and Berkeley purely because of how they looked, which is the definition of racism, but this was condoned by supposed civil rights advocates as “equity”, which is apparently the opposite of equality, where we’re all considered equally human, and we’re all deserving of the same high standard of treatment, not the worst.
As someone Euro-American and male, I’ve been the beneficiary of a lifetime of hatred and discrimination because I look funny and my family was extremely poor. The number of times I was cornered by groups of “entitled” fellow students of all colors and backgrounds during and after school, and forced to fight my way out, is literally beyond count. When you’re ugly or dress funny because you’re poor (or both), it’s enough for all identity groups to pile on you, trash you verbally, and even try to see if they can beat you to make you cry, which is evidently the big “win” for bullies.
Being funny-looking and ugly, I had the privilege of putting up with several semesters of harassment because of how I look here on the U campus, and even got assaulted twice at Peterson, but when I reported it, I was told that I was the problem. A Social Justice Coordinator actually said she thought the assaults and discrimination were a good thing, since “now you know what it feels like”. I’ve known what that feels like my whole life, because I look different/ugly/dressed poorly. All it takes is some self-righteous person who looks at your differences as threatening or ugly, and usually after they get a group of like-minded bigots together to back their play, they come after you alone. That was my experience all through K-12 grade school, and that’s been my experience here at the U. If you’re Euro-American and male, the “liberal” administration actually condones hatred and violence against you.
So, I fully believe there’s been a rise in anti-Asian discrimination, possibly by the administration because they see Asians as “privileged”. I know for a fact personally that if you’re Euro and male, they actively discourage you from even reporting any hate incident, and will even try to blame it on you if you do. I can easily believe this is the reason Lauren McCluskey is dead: she happened to be the wrong color, so the U simply dismissed her report, just as they did several of mine. I’ve literally reported harassment and assault half a dozen times, and not once has anyone in any department ever so much as called me back. I think it’s likely that not only are Asians putting up with greater harassment and violence, but all identity groups are, as politicians teach us to hate each other based on false pretexts that work to their advantage. If you did a full survey of students who attend on this campus, I’m confident you’d find that much of the hatred goes unreported, because the U doesn’t find it socially or politically advantageous to admit that it’s going on, just like Lauren McCluskey. Just like me and so many others. If you think it’s just happening to your own “identity” group, you’re not alone. Singling out specific groups is one of the ways politicians isolate people and create fear they can use to stampede your vote for their own benefit.
Ultimately, all civil rights are human rights, based upon our common shared human experience, human worth, thoughts, feelings, talents & limitations. Ugly people have been beaten and killed for thousands of years: it’s just that nobody cares, which is so ironic it’s almost (almost) laughable, considering how “outraged” people become when it happens to a group they care about. The truth is that we’re all part of the one group we all care about, and upon which all rights are based, which is our humanity, and the moment people (politicians or administrators) begin to pretend that one group is more or less deserving than another, or that one group’s pain isn’t everyone’s pain as people, they’re actually practicing real racism and bigotry themselves, teaching us that the superficial aspects they use to divide us for their own power matter more than the beauty and wonder, limitations, potential, and Love that we all share together, and always have.
We’re all in this together, and we should start marching against violence towards anyone, against harassment and discrimination towards anyone, and in open and vocal support of Loving everyone as equal and worthwhile children of the same Infinite Love, by whatever name you call that Love. Inside, where it counts, we are one, always have been, and always will be. Say it, speak it, sing it, befriend it, march alongside it, and always be there for it: we’re family, and as human family choosing Love for each other, even when we’re frail and imperfect as children are, every space becomes safe space, for everyone, all the time. Under no other conditions will this be true.
All the Best, With Love,
J Hedberg