In light of the articles that have been published in The Herald this semester regarding Asian Equality in Admissions, we feel the need to respond as a community about our strong reservations regarding the group formed by Neil Vangala '09 and Jason Carr '09. Though we cannot speak for the entire Asian, Asian-American, Third World and greater Brown communities, we feel compelled to voice our concerns both as individuals and based on the responses we have received from members of our organizations.
We do not oppose the stated purpose of AEA. On its Web site, AEA claims that it aims to promote "institutional transparency" and to "(educate) and (inform) the Brown student body of discrimination." We do not object to fostering institutional transparency at our school, nor do we object to the possibility of eventually advocating for the release of admission statistics.
However, in our opinion, the goals touted by AEA have not been honored in an appropriate and sensitive way. This column will therefore not dispute the claim that Asian or Asian-American applicants encounter bias in the admission process. That is an important but separate discussion. We hope instead to convey why we cannot embrace AEA.
We have three main concerns regarding Vangala and Carr's group.
The first is related to how the organization was formed. At a recent debate between AEA and the Brown Debating Union (a debate to which Asian and Asian-American leaders were not invited), Carr and Vangala explained that they formed their group in response to a recent lawsuit brought by Yale freshman Jian Li against Princeton, as well as a 1983 report conducted at Brown. Carr and Vangala assumed that many of Li's charges against Princeton were applicable to Brown, and they used the 1983 report - which claimed Asian and Asian-American applicants encountered discrimination at Brown - to garner support. Somehow, these conclusions were reached even before AEA met with Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73 to discuss current admission policies.
Though many meaningful clubs are initially started by a small group of individuals rather than entire communities, the leaders of AEA were unresponsive to calls for more widespread dialogue. During conversations some of us had with its founders, our concerns were dismissed in a cursory manner, leaving many of us feeling alienated.
Since AEA did not form organically as a response to community concerns, it may come as no surprise that it has not received support from any Asian or Asian-American student groups at Brown. Carr and Vangala only approached two of the 18 Asian and Asian-American groups on campus to solicit their official endorsement - which AEA never received.
However, AEA never entered into an exchange with these groups, nor did it include them in the process of determining the best way to pursue "institutional transparency." Rather, AEA sought these affiliations for the sake of promoting its own credibility. Indeed, a liaison to AEA felt he was being used as a liaison "in name only," and many of his attempts to work with the organization went unacknowledged by Vangala and Carr. Furthermore, when Carr was asked if he would move forward with AEA even without support from Asian and Asian-American organizations on campus at the aforementioned debate, he responded, "Hell, yes," demonstrating, we feel, a disturbing lack of respect for the opinions of the community.
This disregard for the voices of Asian and Asian-American students - students whose causes it claims to champion - reflects a general attitude within AEA. For an organization that insists on promoting institutional transparency, there is an alarming lack of dialogue informing its own platform.
We are concerned with the strongly charged language continuously used by AEA. In a Spectator article ("Asian Americans in Admissions: When Success Breeds a Backlash," Vol. 5, Issue 5), Carr wrote, "Only two groups of people believe discrimination is a nuanced issue: racists and college admissions officers."
We believe comments like these reveal that AEA's campaign relies on the presumption of discrimination in Brown admission. If our "racist" admission officers are already written off as guilty of discrimination, how can we expect AEA to produce a report (one of its stated goals) that makes unmotivated and objective conclusions?
Furthermore, we feel that the group's frequent use of words such as "equality" and "institutional transparency" to beckon campus support oversimplifies a complicated issue. AEA's leaders would allege - according to the logic in their columns - that our critical analysis of their group and its goals makes us enemies of equality, out to "destroy a group that is both noble and progressive" (a direct quotation about two of us from a recent e-mail, dated April 14, that Vangala sent to Asian community leaders). By using such terminology, AEA suggests that anyone who questions it must also be in favor of bias and institutional secrecy. Apparently, we're either with them or against them.
We want to commend Vangala and Carr for bringing attention to an important topic. However, we will not lend support to an organization that, in our opinion, has actively excluded the voices of members of our community.
Unfortunately, we feel that attempts at communication with AEA have been exhausted, and we are wary of collaborating with a group that has ignored our input since its initiation.
For members of any campus group, we hope this letter will fuel the discussion that needs to accompany initiatives such as AEA. Finally, we encourage all those who are interested to contact admission officers so as to better understand the complexity of admissions here at Brown.
This column was written by Jennifer Chudy '07, Hapa Club president and TWC staffer, and Belinda Navi '09, Filipino Alliance E-Board member and TWC staffer.
It has been endorsed by:Henry Chien '09, Chinese Student Association co-chairDarnell Fine '08, Minority Peer Counselor coordinatorNatasha Go '10, Brown Organization of Multi-Racial and Bi-Racial Students co-chairKarynn Ikeda '09, VISIONS layout editor and MPC FriendHeilyn Paulino '09, Latin American Students Organization chairJane Tanimura '07, co-chair of the Asian American Student OrganizationKristin Jordan '09, MPCJessica Kawamura '07, former AASA co-chairJamie Farris '07, BOMBS member, FA member, MPC Friend, TWC stafferChristable Lee '09Rukesh Samarasekera '08Cyprian Kibuka '08, African Students Association memberWendy Chen '09, CSA co-chair, AASA member Agnes Barrios '09, Movimiento Estudantil Chicano de Aztlan member, LASO member, Residential Peer LeaderRobert Smith III '09, Queer Political Action Committee member, MPC FriendPatrick Pangan '09, MPC, FA memberRick Ahl '09, Operation Iraqi Freedom memberNisha Mirani '10Lily Shield '09Alexander Ortiz '09Laura Gerace '07, BOMBS member, MPC FriendAnna Hidalgo '09Victoria Chao '08, Strait Talk Symposium coordinatorAmy Tan '09, BOMBS member, TWC staff
