UIC Today : August 21, 2001

From the Left: Asian American students deserve cultural center

by Vince Hayner

UIC was recently credited with being the fifth most diverse university in the nation. No racial group on campus is in the majority and the Latino and African-American student bodies are two strong presence's on campus. Both groups have cultural centers and study programs.

However, with nearly 20 percent of the student population in fall of 1999 and probably more now, the Asian-American student body is the largest minority on campus but has no cultural center and a study program that is by the Coalition for Asian-American Studies' (CAAS) standards, weak when compared to the Latin and African-American Studies programs. The university apparently does not agree, but I'll take a student group's view over the university's any day.

One reason that the university has cited as an obstacle of Asian-American students receiving equal treatment is that they are not an oppressed minority like Latinos or African-Americans. Well, then what do you call granting those students their own cultural centers and study programs and not the Asian-Americans? Tough love? Sounds like a form of oppression to me.

True, Asian-Americans generally face less institutionalized racism than Latinos of African-Americans. They are of a higher social class and make more money, too. They even score higher on the SAT's than whites do, but that does not mean they are not an oppressed people.

It seems to me that the lack of a cohesive Asian-American community on campus has at least some of its roots in the fact that they do not have a cultural center or a strong study program. That and the fact that there are so many different kinds of people: from Palestinians to Pakistanis to Chinese, that are considered to be "Asian-American." That makes it all the more important that there be a cultural center to celebrate that kind of diversity, for students of Asian descent to get in touch with their roots and other students to learn more about those cultures.

Some might ask, if Asian, Latin, and African-American Students get cultural centers, then why shouldn't whites get their own too? Whites do have culture, but just as our parents tell us that every day is kids day, in America, every day is white culture day. The cultural centers and the study programs at UIC provide us with a place where any student can learn more about cultures that once brought to America, have been largely swallowed up by the dominant white culture.

Just as Asian-Americans deserve a cultural center and stronger study program, more students should take advantage of these resources and get to learn more about a culture different from their own. Too often, African-American Studies courses are taken by mostly African-Americans and Latin-American Studies courses are taken by mostly Latin-Americans. Students should take courses to learn about their own cultures; it's a good thing. But these courses should also be taken by students of other cultures to learn about cultures that they are not accustomed to.

OK, another argument. If we are trying to eliminate racism in this country, and I think that most people do not like racism, then why create these programs that only highlight the different races? It is true that one of the basic foundations of racism is that there are races in the world, and to eliminate racism, we must diffuse this idea that there are real differences between people just because they look different. But these programs that the Asian-American students are fighting for is a type of affirmative action. Only through acknowledging that people in America are treated differently because of their race, and working to help the disadvantaged races can we truly bring about a racist-free world.

Asian-American student groups such as CAAS have been fighting for quite some time to be treated with same respect from the university as Latin and African-Americans. As the largest minority on campus, there should be no reason why they should not have programs to celebrate their culture. This idea that they are not oppressed enough is ridiculous. Their struggles in white America are much like those of other minorities and so they deserve equal treatment.