Why There Still Aren't Enough Asian-American College Presidents

The Chronicle of Higher Education
From the issue dated September 26, 2008

By ROY H. SAIGO
At age 5, my grandson understood fair play. If he didn't get his turn, he'd cry, "No fair!" As caring adults, we intercede when we see children ignore or gang up on another child — we tell them, "No fair!"
Nearly 10 years ago, I wrote an essay for The Chronicle on the underrepresentation of Asian-Americans in academic leadership, especially in institutions and disciplines that have a high percentage of students and faculty members of Asian or Pacific Island ancestry. There have been changes over the past 10 years, but have things changed much for Asian-Americans? What I have found is disappointing. No fair?
Our history has many unfortunate examples of unfairness, in spite of our American democratic ideals. The anti-Asian laws of the 1800s and 1900s are an example. I first experienced discrimination as a toddler, when I was incarcerated along with about 120,000 other citizens and residents of Japanese ancestry during World War II. Our Constitutional rights were suspended, and we lost everything because of who we were, not what we had done. After the war, we returned to shame, hatred, angry neighbors, and people unwilling to hire us, and we had to start all over again. We had lost homes, cars, household goods, photo albums, and family heirlooms. My father's response was this: "Get an education. Nobody can take that away from you."
Then came the wars in Korea and Vietnam. All three Asian wars created a population of war-affected families and communities. It is easy to hate or suspect anybody who looks like the enemy.
We are still looked upon as foreigners by many, and as being homogeneous. The Committee of 100, a Chinese organization, did a survey in 2000 to find out if people could differentiate among the major Asian groups in the United States. They could not. No matter what your country or culture of origin, you are simply an Asian. Now there is much greater diversity within the Asian demographic category, with people from Southeast Asia, the Asian subcontinent, and other areas. Many in the newer groups are still working through first-generation language, cultural, and economic issues. I am pleased with the changes that resulted from the civil-rights struggles of the 1960s, but that work is never finished. ...

In the fall of 2007, 18.3 percent of California State's 358,531 undergraduate students identified themselves as being of Asian/Filipino/Pacific Island ethnicity. Yet none of the system's 23 presidents fell into that category as of August 2008. (There was one such president back in 1999.) There are three African-American and four Hispanic/Latino presidents. Asian groups are likewise underrepresented in the upper academic posts that typically lead to presidencies — there are no academic vice presidents from their ranks, although there are three nonacademic vice presidents. [To read the entire story, go to: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i05/05b06001.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en ]