105 students signed the following open letter, clarifying the rationale and reaffirming support for the collection of detailed data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
An Open Letter from Asian American & Pacific Islander Educators and Students
in Support of Collecting Detailed Data on Asian Americans
August 9, 2017
As Asian American and Pacific Islander educators and students in K-12 schools, colleges and universities across the nation, we are deeply alarmed by growing opposition to the collection of detailed data on Asian Americans.
This opposition has emerged from within our own Asian American communities. Recently, a group of about 50 Chinese Americans in Rhode Island (including many children) protested the state’s All Students Count Act, a policy change championed by the Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE) and Asian American youth groups like PrYSM. This new state law requires the department of “elementary and secondary education to use separate collection categories/tabulations for specified Asian ethnic groups in every demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of residents.”
The protest in Rhode Island follows similar protest actions by Chinese parents in California, first when data disaggregation was being debated in the state legislature, and subsequently as school districts began implementing detailed data collection to better serve their student populations.
Opponents in both California and Rhode Island have used incendiary and misleading language to describe the potential consequences of the law, comparing it to data collected by the Nazis to persecute Jews and single them out for genocide.
This assertion is outrageous, and ignores the history and purpose of collecting detailed data on Asian Americans.
Collecting detailed data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) means that data are separated into different ethnic categories. While Asian Americans can report their identity as “Asian,” they are also able to volunteer an additional category, such as “Chinese,” “Korean,” or “Vietnamese.” They may also select more than one ethnic category. Data disaggregation is a mainstay of U.S. Census data collections, and is critical for AAPI communities pushing for greater ballot language assistance, bilingual education, mental health assistance for students, and culturally competent care by county hospitals.
For the last three decades, Asian American & Pacific Islander community leaders, elected officials, researchers, educators, and students have called for further collection of these detailed data. The call for detailed data emerged most powerfully after 1965, when the United States ended its restrictive quotas by national origin. As the AAPI community grew, government agencies, schools, and the larger population failed to distinguish between different national-origin and ethnic groups, with distinct histories, experiences, and social needs, lumping all people of Asian origin together. This lumping resulted in inadequate recognition of the unique challenges among different ethnic groups in the Asian American and Pacific Islander population. Consequently, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and social service providers often misunderstood and overlooked these growing communities’ needs.
As educators and students, we strive to better understand the challenges faced by our populations, and to better serve and support varied educational needs. We cannot do this without high-quality data. For example, Cambodian, Laotian, Native Hawaiian, and Samoan Americans have among the lowest rates of graduation from community college. Mental health issues also vary across the Asian American population, with some groups such as Chinese American women showing higher rates of suicide than other Asian American groups. High-quality, detailed data is essential to understanding student challenges in all communities, and is vital to securing public and private resources to help students in need.
To compare the current effort to collect data on Asian Americans to the tactics of Nazi Germany is irresponsible. Historically, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, including Chinese Americans, have been at the forefront of calls for detailed data collection. The purpose of these data is not to single-out a group for persecution or surveillance, but to better recognize and support all segments of our community, and to ensure that all students count in education.
As educators and students, we believe it is imperative to continue the push for high-quality, detailed data that can serve the diverse needs of our Asian American and Pacific Islander populations.
The undersigned (institutional affiliation provided for identification purposes only).
- Aastha Uprety, Student, College of William & Mary
- Abigail Wang, Medical student, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
- Aeriel Ashlee, Doctoral Student, Miami University in Oxford, OH
- Ajay Mohan, Student, Irvine Valley College
- Alex Au, Rad Chinese
- Alvin L.J. Kim, University of Pennsylvania
- Alvyn Dimaculangan, University of South Florida
- Amberly Diep, Student
- Amy Miao, Student at Brown University
- Anatolia Hodson, College of William and Mary
- Andrea Ayres, College of William and Mary
- Andy Pham, Student at Brown University
- Anh-Tu Lu, UC Berkeley
- Anne Zhao, Student, Brown University
- Arika Thames, College of William and Mary
- Beatrice Jin, Student, Cornell University
- Brian Kohaya, UCLA
- Brittany Tabora, Student, Cornell University
- Bryan Dosono, PhD Student, Syracuse University
- Cara Davis, Student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Carlos Quezada, Graduate Student at Stanford University
- Carolyn Choi, graduate student, USC
- Catherine Lumintang, UCLA
- Chris Chen, UCLA
- Christina Chu, Student, Brown University
- Christine Kim, College of William and Mary
- Danica Lee, Appalachian State University
- Daniela Pila, Graduate Student, University at Albany SUNY
- Daphne Cheng, University of Michigan
- Dorothy Jiang, Student, Brown University
- Elaine Chen, University of Missouri
- Elaine Jessica Tamargo, Ph.D. Student, UCLA
- Emilie Tumale, Ph.D Student, New York University
- Emily Yoshioka, Brown University
- Eva Tang, Student at Stanford University
- Felicia Wong, The College of William & Mary
- Hanh Pham, Student, Wesleyan University
- Hannah Lee, MSW Student, UIC
- Helen Ngo, Student – University of Massachusetts Boston
- I-Ling Hsiung, Graduate Student, Stanford University
- Israel Tovar, Student at Stanford University
- Jacqueline Mac Fallon, Doctoral Student, Indiana University
- James Huynh, UCLA Graduate Student
- Jamie Atschinow, Student, Brown University
- Jason Buell, Graduate Student, CU Boulder
- Jason Fong, Student
- Jason Fong, Wesleyan
- Jessica Lee, The Ohio State University
- JingJing Zeng, Student, University of Pennsylvania
- Joliana Yee, Doctoral student, Loyola University Chicago
- Juliana Wong, Master’s Student, University of Maryland, College Park
- June Kim, The College of William & Mary
- Justin Nguyen, Medical Student
- Kathley LeTran, UC Davis
- Kelilah Liu, University of Missouri Columbia
- Kelly Truong, M.Ed Student, Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Ker Thao, Graduate Student, NYU
- Kevin Nguyen, Graduate Student – Cal State Long Beach
- Kharl Reynado, Student at the University of Connecticut
- Kimberly Le, Student, Brown University
- Krista Grajo, University of Florida
- Kristi Bui, Northeastern University
- Lilianne Tang, Grad Student, Loyola University Chicago
- Linda Nguyen, Student, UC Davis
- Linh Dang, Doctoral Student, U. of Rochester
- Lyn Rafil, Student, New York University
- Mari Bugayong, Grad Student, Johns Hopkins / Brown alum ’17
- Marissiko Wheaton, PhD Student, University of Southern California
- Mary Nguyen, Student, University of Oxford
- Melinda Wang, Student, University of Pennsylvania
- Melissa Chen, Undergraduate Student, Stanford University
- Michelle Nguyen, Student, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Michelle Yang, University of Chicago
- Mike Hoa Nguyen, PhD Student, UCLA School of Education
- Monica Chan, Seattle University
- Natasha Jones, Graduate student, CSU Fullerton
- Natasha Saelua, Doctoral Student – Higher Education, Indiana University”
- Niko Schultz, Student, University of Maryland
- Nisha M, Harvey Mudd College
- Niuniu Teo, Student, Peking University
- Nurul Quratulaini Abd Salim Nast, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
- Othelia Jumapao, University of Florida
- Phoebe Pan, Student, NSU College of Optometry
- Porntip Israsena Twishime, Graduate Student, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Raymond Fang, University of Chicago
- Richard Ho, Temple University
- Rose Ann Gutierrez, PhD Student and University of California, Los Angeles
- Rudmila Rashid, Student, University of Pennsylvania
- Sabrina Cheung, UNC-Chapel Hill
- Sabrina Ko, Student at Smith College
- Sam Gomes, Johns Hopkins University
- Sejung Yim, PhD student, CUNY Graduate Center
- Soua Xiong, Graduate Student, San Diego State University
- Stella Chong, Ms. Stella Chong, First Generation College Student at Brown University
- Sydnee Viray, UVM – Doctoral Student
- Trace Hernandez, The College of William & Mary
- Van Anh Tran, PhD Student, Columbia University
- Vanessa Na, PhD Student, Indiana University Bloomington
- Vu Tran, PhD Student, Ohio State University
- Weily Lang, College of Mount Saint Vincent
- William Ho, Graduate Student of the Stanford Graduate School of Education
- William Hsu, Graduate Student, SUNY Binghamton University
- William Rhee, University of Chicago
- Yen-Yen Gao, Student, University of Pennsylvania
- Yu-Hui Lin, Graduate Student, UC Berkeley
(other versions of this letter)