The event, hosted by the NYU Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, was titled “Asian Americans in the Ivory Tower.”
In March, NYU Steinhardt welcomed Frank H. Wu, president of Queens College of the City University of New York, for a talk entitled “Asian Americans in the Ivory Tower.” The event, hosted by the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, offered an opportunity to discuss the perception and role of Asian Americans in education.
“I began thinking about this event early last summer when we knew the Supreme Court was about to end affirmative action,” said host Ann Marcus, director of the Steinhardt Institute of Higher Education Policy and professor of higher education at Steinhardt, in her opening remarks. “With increasing public discussion at the time about many issues affecting Asian American communities and growing concern about local, political, and educational issues here in New York City, it seemed like an ideal time to invite President Wu to share his thoughts.”
As president of Queens College since July 2020, Wu is the first Asian American to serve in this role. He previously served as chancellor and dean at University of California Hastings College of Law and faculty at Howard University. Wu is the author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White and co-author of Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment.
With an audience encompassing master’s and doctoral students across NYU, as well as administrators and faculty from Steinhardt and other colleges in New York City, Wu discussed several different problematic perceptions of Asian American communities.
“There are two predominant images of Asian Americans – one is the undocumented immigrant (the rideshare driver or the waiter at the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet),” said Wu. “The other is the model minority myth, which is the whiz kid, the rocket scientist, winning every spelling bee and science fair and math contest possible.”
According to Wu, the model minority myth sounds like a compliment but is also deeply troubling because it’s false, like many other exaggerations. “Studies show that Asian Americans are promoted to management, even in academia, at lower rates than any other group, including other racial minorities,” said Wu.
It is my hope is that when we gather in rooms on a campus such as NYU or Queen's College, we will eventually recognize that, yes, we have our differences, but we're bound together in an experiment that in the annals of human history has never before existed, much less flourished...Within the lifetimes of all of us we will cease, in numerical terms, to have a single identifiable racial majority, and we will become a truly diverse democracy.
With this incorrect perception that Asian Americans occupy a large portion in higher education, Wu and respondent Mike Hoa Nguyen, assistant professor of education at Steinhardt, explored how to begin to address some of these issues on a deeper level.
“As President Wu shared, the manner in which Asian Americans are racialized presents serious challenges for our communities,” said Nguyen. “Certainly, policymakers, community leaders, and academic institutions need to uplift and celebrate a more accurate, complex, and diverse experience for our communities as opposed to reinforcing the model minority myth and the Yellow Peril of forever foreigner stereotypes.”
Wu closed with a positive message for the future.
“It is my hope is that when we gather in rooms on a campus such as NYU or Queen's College, we will eventually recognize that, yes, we have our differences, but we're bound together in an experiment that in the annals of human history has never before existed, much less flourished,” said Wu. “Within the lifetimes of all of us we will cease, in numerical terms, to have a single identifiable racial majority, and we will become a truly diverse democracy.”
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