Asian American / Asian Students: Aspects of Social Interaction – Workshop 2-A

Marie Ting: Basically…the topic of this workshop is the Asian/Asian American student experience at CUNY, and I would like this to be, is really an interactive kind of discussion that we have, so I will begin and I have questions that I’ll pose to our panelists and we’ll just sort of chat a little bit, and then later on we’ll involve the audience and get some of your feedback. I consider this sort of like a mini-qualitative study, I mean very mini because there’s two subjects here. But I hope that this will be helpful as we kind of brainstorm and talk about the experiences of Asian American students at CUNY, and I don’t know if we’ll come up with any solutions today because the sample size is so small, but maybe we could leave with some thoughts and ideas.

Just to introduce myself, my name is Marie Ting, I’ve actually been in New York for four months, [inaudible] this is all a learning experience for me, because I’m originally from Michigan, and I finished my doctorate in Maryland, and the Asian American communities there are very different. There’s not as many Asian Americans and how they define race and ethnicity is very different, so this is a great experience for me and I’m very pleased to be here. And our panelists, our two panelists here today, I’ll say a few words about them, and then I’m sure as they talk more we’ll get to know them a little better.

On my right is Ms. Victoria Ortegas, and she is a native-born student currently enrolled at Lehman College, and then next to Victoria is Lauren Lee, and she is a student majoring in marketing at Baruch College.

So, my first question, and again I’m hoping this can be an open discussion, so the first question is, we’re obviously here to talk about the Asian American experience at CUNY. So I’m going to jump right into it. Can you first tell us about your experiences as an Asian American at CUNY, the struggle, the joy, the challenges, I know that’s a broad question but you can pick the one you want to talk about.

Victoria Ortegas: Um, okay, [inaudible], during [inaudible] with my father, and my father [inaudible] Filipino history. So I came to New York to live with him, I got a great chance to experience the Asian community, because [inaudible]. We had mostly [inaudible] population, [inaudible].

Okay, my ethnicity is Mongolian-Filipino, and whenever I have a form to fill out, Asian or Asian Pacific Islander, if they don’t have that, I just put other and write everything down. So, growing up, it was a bit difficult because beforehand, you really didn’t have a section to put out what you really are. I think it was like [inaudible] Pacific Islander, so [inaudible] checked that. Being here at Lehman College, though, has been a joy. I’ve been able to start a new club, [inaudible] the Asian community involved with school activities, and I’m having fun, the people have made different encounters in situations where I was lonely, [inaudible].

Marie Ting: So keep struggle in the back of your mind. What about joy?

Lauren Lee: I think Baruch is a great school, like there’s so many ethnicities at Baruch College and it’s so diverse, you can fit in anywhere, whatever group you feel like belonging to, there’s so many different kinds of clubs you can be a part of and take part of, it’s just no problem, I feel so happy at Baruch, I had no problems making friends or getting to know people, it’s a really good environment to grow and learn, learn about yourself and other people, and I just had a…

Marie Ting: Do we need microphones, or everybody…

Female Audience Member: Want me…Speak up a little bit.

Marie Ting: Could you talk about your ethnic background and where you’re from, and maybe where you’re from and what brought you to CUNY?

Lauren Lee: Alright. I’m actually Chinese, I’m full Chinese. I actually grew up in Long Island where it was very [inaudible]. I [inaudible] Asian [inaudible] Asian students high school, [inaudible] I don’t know how big the Asian population was, and obviously growing up in that kind of environment is very, very uncomfortable, like it’s hard to fit in because all the kids just stick together, and I never knew I was different from other kids until I was five year olds and they teased me, so I didn’t know that until they teased me, and then I realized, “Oh, I am different.” About seven years ago I moved to Queens, and it just opened up my life because there’s so many different people and everyone’s so easily ready to accept different cultures and ethnicities, and I just felt more comfortable being in that kind of environment, and it’s just wonderful, I have no problem with it whatsoever now.

Victoria Ortegas: Okay, just a little about me going into [inaudible]. It’s really interesting, when I go to the campus I get involved in sessions with people, because at first glance, you really don’t know exactly where to categorize me or place me, so I’m gotten many comments, “You’re Chinese”, or African American or Hispanic of some sort, but no one has ever really said, “Oh, okay, you’re Asian”, but when I go to Chinatown it’s a completely different story, so it’s cool down there.

But as for campus life, I really do enjoy it, it’s a great experience, and I think everyone, if you have the opportunity, should go to college, and eventually you’ll be able to find your place from [inaudible] and that’s pretty much what I had to do, because the Asian population, even though there is one, it’s really closed off-ish, you have to find the people, bring them together. Because, phenomenally, the most common stereotype is, you work, you go to school, you get home, and a lot of students, whether Asian or non-Asian, that’s all they do. And I work at the student life building so it’s hard to get anybody to come in, so they’re doing a lot of promoting events and why not. So, coming here, getting involved with [inaudible] institute was a great opportunity because now I can talk to more people and get the word out there…

Marie Ting: Now, you’re from Long Island, and you’re originally from Pennsylvania, but obviously a very kind of homogeneous environment, so as you transition into your career as a student, do you feel that being Asian American made it more difficult in terms of your adjustment, or made no difference at all?

Lauren Lee: I didn’t find a best friend, I really didn’t, I mean, there are more Asian students in these schools and more other ethnicities that it made it more welcoming, [inaudible] would say hi to you or talk to your or be your friend or, we grew up in really small towns where it was really homogeneous and there’s more like, “Oh, you’re different”, and it’s very welcoming over here in the city where diversity is what New York is about.

Victoria Ortegas: She does have a good point. From my hometown, this will give you guys a clue on how small it actually was. We had to borrow the address of the neighboring city, that’s how tiny the town was. They’re beautiful people, it’s just the simple fact that, as she said, very homogeneous, the predominant population was basically Slovak, Italian, Polish, not that many Jewish people there either, so I had both hurdles, and when I came to New York, I could be more religiously diverse, converse with various different people, and I’d get the weird look, “Okay, [inaudible], alright.” And I did get the chance to be with more Asian people and that did [inaudible] help, because [inaudible] thought, “I’m so awful.”

Marie Ting: Let’s talk about the struggle now, the struggle as an Asian American. There’s a publication that has come out, and I don’t know if anyone has seen it, actually it came out maybe last year, it’s called working with Asian American college students, and the publication is focused on student affairs, especially. So they did sort of a qualitative study of students, too, and these students, they did, for example, that feeling marginalized and misunderstood and disconnected from college campus was one of their struggles. They also talked about inadequate resources and diversity among staff, and issues of racism and struggles and have to save space on campus. So, do you recognize any of those, or are they not part of your experience at CUNY?

Lauren Lee: Myself, I haven’t faced that. Once I got into college, I already had some friends that were going into college with me, and I didn’t find those kind of struggles, it just wasn’t something I had to face, regarding school administration and teachers, I just felt very comfortable with everybody and who I was with, who I became friends with. The first semester I joined, I was in CUNY, I actually joined a sorority, and that kind of made the transition easier, like I made a group of friends that would have all Koreans. Being in a CUNY school, it’s not a dormitory school, you could have friends for one semester, but then the next semester you’ll never see them again. But with the sorority, I always had those friends, I always had that support, I think that’s what made it easier for myself and other girls in the sorority. You do face stereotypes though, like in calculus, everyone’s like, “You’re Asian, you’ll do fine!” I’m like, “No!” I was struggling so badly, or any kind of math class you take, “You’re Asian, you’ll do fine!”, or like a lot of people think, you’re studious, you’ll do fine, I was like, I don’t study, I’m not, that’s the stereotypes you face. You have to show people that stereotypes aren’t always what everyone is about. Yes there are some truths in stereotyping, but you can’t base anybody on that stereotype, and I do not [inaudible], some people have seen me, once they meet me, like “Oh, you’re not like them, noooo.” But it’s a way to open people eyes, and let them know, open up your eyes and see that there are more people than the stereotypes you do hear.

Marie Ting: How do you educate people about these stereotypes, or how have you, or how…

Lauren Lee: I just think by meeting people and by being yourself, you show them yourself, the way you act, the way you carry yourself, and the way they see you, that’s how you prove them wrong, that’s how you prove those stereotypes wrong. You joke around, you be yourself, and they see, oh she’s not like that, or he’s not like that, [inaudible] you can’t really announce to the world, “We’re not all like this.” You have to touch each person personally. They have to experience it themselves or they’ll never believe it.

Marie Ting: You know, it’s interesting, because coming from the Midwest and then coming here, I wouldn’t think that stereotypes were so troubling, because it’s so diverse and it’s harder to generalize, but it seems like it’s still a common issue whether you’re in the Midwest or the East Coast.

Lauren Lee: That’s right, I think even with more diversity there’s still more stereotypes, [inaudible] wherever you’re going, Midwest, West Coast, East Coast, North, South, wherever you go it’s going to follow you.

Victoria Ortegas: Well for me, the [inaudible] biggest common stereotype, I believe I could add one. Because they had to place me, and you know, for awhile it was okay, because I was like okay, you guys don’t know me [inaudible], but you can be as kind as you can be and after the 15^th person you know, [inaudible] says something, then it’s kind of like, uh, okay, I’ve got to do something about this. So as a result, I walked down to the student life building and said, “Hey, well, this is what you need to do,” to get the word out that there is more than one particular Asian stereotype, whether it’s right or wrong, and we need to have a place we can come together and discuss these issues, so I started my club and as a result more people have come in, they see [inaudible] we have of various dolls from Korea, Japan, China, we have done origami for Japan, and they’re learning, and it’s like the greatest thing, because even though you may have a disagreement [inaudible] culture, the fact that they’re willing to take the time out and learn the correct facts instead of going on the wrong ones, I think that’s the best impression I can do to my college this semester.

Marie Ting: Then what do you say when people say, “Well, why do you have an Asian club? Shouldn’t we all just get along? I mean, why are you trying to separate yourself from everyone?”

Victoria Ortegas: That was a particular problem with picking a name, because generally you pick the Asian club, but my friend said, you know what, you can’t really do that because it’ll follow the stereotype of this being [inaudible] or not. So I said, alright, why don’t we call it the Asian Cultural Exchange, that way no one can say we’re singling anyone out, but we still get to keep our, this is our piece of the pie, and when people come in and they do ask us, well, do you have to be Asian to join? I said, no, all you have to do is have an appreciation for Asian culture. And to have that [inaudible] one foot in the door, and then you don’t have to stay [inaudible] clique-ish or standoffish, because there are a lot of ethnic clubs at our school. Everyone, it seems funny to me that you can have African Student Association Pride or Gay Pride or a lot of Association Pride, but when it comes down to Asian Pride, now we’re being pompous, and that’s not really fair, so I’m trying to change that little by little.

Marie Ting: “Because Asians aren’t really minorities, we don’t have any issues.”

Victoria Ortegas: Exactly.

Marie Ting: Let me ask you this. Do you feel that your administration is supportive of your efforts and if not, what more do you think needs to be done.

Victoria Ortegas: I think at this particular stage, they’re starting to realize that we do matter and we do exist, so at the first, first off, they’re like, we’ll give you a new club, we’ll give you a little attention, a little leeway, and as we started voicing our opinions on certain things like student elections and whatnot, now they kind of look at us like, “well, she is the president of the Asian club”, or “okay, well, here she comes”, so the next time we have student meetings or meet with the staff about tuition or, there’s a particular problem with the Asian international students about their visas, and that’s something that, as student government and faculty advisors, we really have no answer for, and thanks to the backlash of 9/11, this is a problem a lot of international students, whether you’re Asian or not, have to deal with. And you see, just a simple question like that on visas, how little the CUNY system is aware [inaudible] international students as a whole, and they really need to address that.

Lauren Lee: At Baruch, there’s a lot of, like they have this club called Baruch Asian Students Association, there are Asian fraternities, sororities, there are Chinese clubs, Korean clubs, they’re very open to “Whatever club you want to open up, you can open it.” They don’t have a problem with that at their college. They’re so open to any club you want to open, you just have to prove that you will, like be open to everyone in this school, you will have activities open to the school, and you will devote yourself in the school. Other than that, they have no problem whatsoever in my school, it’s very open, they’re open to anyone. I myself have not had the chance to actually be a part of [inaudible] sorority, but the problem is, I know they exist, I know they have meetings, but I don’t see them around the school, doing activities in the school. They have certain club fairs, [inaudible], but I don’t see them out there. They have activities like bake sales or make posters for them, like I see once in awhile, the Christian Korean Fellowship or the Chinese Christian Fellowship, that’s about it, and maybe they show movies, but they’re not really that active in the school community and I think they should be more active within the school community. But I actually think that the Asian Students Union is having a fashion show in school, which is very big, they all come together to have a fashion show, and a lot of people actually do turn up for it and they are aware of what’s going on.

Marie Ting: This is very interesting because we have sort of, the two extremes in terms of experiences and activities, so it’s very good. Let’s talk a little about the issue of safe space. So, when you think of your campus and you think, let’s say an experiment, let’s say someone gave you a camera and asked you to walk around your campus and take pictures of places that you consider safe spaces for yourself, safe space. It could be a person, it could be a location, a class, what do you take pictures of.

Lauren Lee: For myself, each club in our school is given a club room, where all the members can come and come together when they have a free period and come together and just meet or hang out, so for me that would be my safe space, that is where my sorority is, that’s where my fraternity brothers are. That’s where we are all the time, that’s our home when we’re at school, that’s where we can study, that’s where we can talk if we have problems, if you go there you will find a friend or that’s just a place you need to go if you want comfort. You know someone’s going to be there that you know, you can just relax, don’t have to worry about anything, just wait until your next class, if you’re tired you go to sleep, that’s the comfort spot, the comfort zone.

Marie Ting: So it seems like physical space, the availability of somewhere just to congregate is very important. But I know it’s very limited in New York City. In Michigan, [inaudible] campus, so…

Victoria Ortegas: [inaudible]. I have to agree, the campus club rooms, if you can, for when you get one, that is a definite safe space. Also, I think, I noticed yesterday when I was at lunch with a couple of my club members, and the simple fact of the four of us being together and going to a McDonald’s or a diner, that could also count as a safe space for me, because I don’t feel like I’m the only one of my kind walking somewhere, so it was really funny, you have the mixed group, you’ve got the Korean guy, the Chinese guy, the mixed girl and the Malaysian chick, we’re all walking down the block, and everyone kind of looks at you, not really scared, but they’re like okay, [inaudible], a big group of people, and we get along, and we’re going to McDonald’s, so we rock. I’m a social type of person, so I think the club room and this effect having people there, that’s my main safe space.

Marie Ting: How do you choose the people that you’re staying with?

Victoria Ortegas: Well, predominantly it takes getting to know the person, talking to them…

Marie Ting: Who are they? Is it a function of their ethnicity, you think? Or is it a function of, maybe you’re in the same classes, or what is it?

Victoria Ortegas: Well, at the student life building, you get a barrage of people coming in and out, and with me, I’m all over the place. So if I see someone more than twice, I’ll stop and talk to them for at least five minutes to get to know the person, and generally from that, you can get the jist of, this person’s cool, this person, okay, they’re alright, but [inaudible] get to know the person, and after the third or fourth conversation, hey you know, come to my club, I’ll mention it two or three times. If they seem interested, I’m like “Yeah, come on, be my friend” [inaudible].

Marie Ting: So the race or ethnicity of the person isn’t…

Victoria Ortegas: No, that’s not really the first thing that comes into mind. After we find out about them, oh, you’re, that’s cool, so am I. That’s kind of like the icing on the cake.

Lauren Lee: For myself, the greatest necessity is, I don’t look at that first, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind, oh, you’re this, oh, you’re that, because [inaudible] some people [inaudible], they keep guessing, they can’t get it, as for me, the people I’m safe with is my sorority sisters, but that’s kind of a thing in itself because there’s a process to go through to be a part of that sisterhood, so we have kind of like a filtering process, in a sense, so in a sense we all have something in common with each other but we all grow together and we all have that special bond together. That’s what makes it so special to us. But when I’m in school, [inaudible], with classmates, I’m very sociable, so I just talk to the person next to me, I talk to the person behind me, I talk to anyone in class, and it’s just who you can get along with, who your personality clicks with and who you can meet and get along with. That’s who you can hang out with. If I like the person, if I think they’re someone I can hang out with, I’ll be like, “Oh, do you want to study?,” or “Do you want to come to this party we’re having?,” “We’re having an event, can you come?”

Marie Ting: Do either of you see groups of Asians kind of hanging out together a lot, and how does that make you feel, when you see groups of other ethnicities?

Lauren Lee: Groups always tend to hang out with one another, I guess that’s their comfort zone, being with a group of people that they know understands them and where they come from, that’s what makes them safe, makes them feel comfortable. Especially if you’re a foreign student, that makes you more comfortable than being at school and having friends like that. And I see that throughout high school, and I was like, “Well, why don’t they meet other people?”, there are so many great cultures and ethnicities out there that everyone should learn about. I myself was never like that, I’m sure you weren’t like that, I was going out there trying to meet new people and trying to see, what’s their culture, but I would ask the questions [inaudible], there’s so much more out there than just, “Where do you come from?”, and I think being in New York, you need to take advantage of that.

Marie Ting: What if people say, well, Asians are known to be clannish, they just hang out with each other?

Lauren Lee: Well, so does everybody else.

Victoria Ortegas: I think, the simple, a visual stereotype is, oh, okay, there’s a bunch of Chinese and Vietnamese or Japanese people sitting there. Because of all the outside stereotypes, like, oh, Asians, we’re all rich, we’re all individualistic, materialistic, and we’re all very smart. That stereotype of only seeing one person, that gets multiplied tenfold when you see a group of people of that same ethnic group, no matter what it is. So that whole, “Oh, the clan…”, it just so happens that the last names, okay my name is O, another person’s name is R, so we’re in class together, it’s not that we’re clannish, it’s just we see each other a lot, so we all hang out.

Betty Lee Sung: Maria? I was just wondering, I see these two are student leaders, and they are in diverse schools, like Lauren is at Baruch where 35% of the student body is Asian, so she has a different experience from Victoria, and I was just wondering if, from the audience, whether there are problems, questions. I think we have a number of students in the audience, maybe they have problems that they would like to address.

Marie Ting: That’s interesting because I was just going then to start shifting the conversation. So there’s a lot of random issues that we try to bring up just to kind of stimulate the discussion. So are there questions right now? I’m not going to bring the microphone down, but any clarification or any issues that you would like to pose to the session.

Betty Lee Sung: Because they both seem to have many problems, and I think there are a lot of problems, [inaudible].

Female Audience Member: My question to the both of you, how do you go about getting the new immigrants involved with the clubs, what do you think you would need to do to get them involved, what do you think the administration, what is preventing them from joining the clubs?

Victoria: Uh, okay. Actually it’s ironic you should say that, because this week we received another member, she’s originally from Vietnam. Basically what usually happens is, because it’s such a shock to have an Asian club on campus, the word has gone around, so we do have quite a few international students. I’m coming from class, and one of my members said, “Hey, there’s someone waiting for you at the office”, I’ll come over and I’ll talk to them, and [inaudible] a club they’ll ask a couple questions [inaudible] and we have another member. But really we would like to have a radio station, which in full effect, we could have commercial spot there, if, [inaudible] on the website, we’re supposed to have an insert on the clubs and whatnot, but we need to have [inaudible] do have computers and that’s not really much of a language barrier, because you have translation chips and whatnot. If we could have our own personal websites advertised by the school itself, that would get the word out a lot better, because going up to people and talking to them is great, but there are thousands of people on campus, and it’s really hard to speak to each and every one of them. Especially if I’m here at this function right now, the people in my club room, if they’re not as talkative as I am, they won’t get the word out there as quickly, so the school has to help a lot.

Lauren Lee: I think the biggest issue might be language barriers. That’s definitely one of the biggest issues, language barriers. If an immigrant does come to one of our schools and they know their English isn’t as great, they will be more intimidated to walk into a club and introduce themselves because their language barriers will prevent them from speaking to other people. They will find people that speak their language and only speak in their native tongue, and I’ve seen that before, I will talk to some people that are kind of hesitant to talk, or they pick someone else who can speak their language, they’re like oh, “blah blah blah blah blah”, and I’m just like oh, okay. [inaudible] It’s also, it’s pretty intimidating for new immigrants to come in, walk into a club with a whole group of people that they don’t know, and it’s very nerve wracking.

Female Audience Member: And how do you make them feel welcome, and how do you deal with that language barrier, if you will. What kind of activities can you have so that they can feel welcome, like, oh, wow, I have a role in there, it’s okay that my English is limited?

Lauren Lee: Right. Well, for my school, I know at the beginning of the year and towards the end of the year, they have these festivals where the clubs come out and promote themselves, and people can stop by and check out the club, ask questions, and that’s a lot of fun to do the promoting. They pull people aside, like hey, this is our club, and teach them about it. I know they had this one event where at that time I was the only Asian sister, and some of the girls were [inaudible] walking away, and they’re like, “Come quick, there’s some Asian girl looking, and they’re just passing by, we need you here to come attract them”. They they have to see that there are Asians taking part in this school and they’re not alone, they have to come by and see that and do that. They’re all welcome to these clubs, that’s what these clubs are here for, to come join, be a part of something, and at the same time learn more, about the school, yourself, and get rid of that language barrier, that intimidation. Have more self-confidence in yourself to join these clubs and go out there and not be intimidated.

Female Audience Member: [inaudible].

Lauren Lee: I guess you have to personally show them. [inaudible], because they are shy, they’re not going to come find you, you have to find them. [inaudible] international students, they do come find us, but we talk to them a long time, to show them that, you know, you are accepted, we’re not about [inaudible] just because your language isn’t that great. One of the girls is from Taiwan, [inaudible] she knows her English isn’t that great, but she knows I’m there to help her, it’s like [inaudible] with her English, she knows I’m doing that for her, and she knows she can depend on me for help, and I think that comes across to her and everybody else.

Female Audience Member: Maybe there’s something that the club could offer, like a mentorship program or tutoring on an informal basis, and [inaudible] activities [inaudible]. That’s wonderful, thank you.

Female Audience Member: I think that’s really important too, because Victoria was telling me that earlier in the morning, there was a discussion on mental health issues, and she was telling me how it’s really underreported and part of my theory as to why it’s underreported is because a lot of Asian Americans don’t like to talk about the whole suicide thing [inaudible] culture, but with the high rate of suicide at MIT and NYU, it’s obviously an issue. So I think, especially for the immigrants that come to the United States for education, there’s so much pressure on them, sometimes they have to make money and send money home, that they have trouble or need to be talked to, often times they’re not plugged in, so they don’t know what to do. They just go back to their room and kind of be depressed. So I think, that’s right, this is something that the institution and maybe clubs can be better to outreach.

Male Audience Member: I think, [inaudible] as you mentioned, I think both of you are [inaudible] Americanized. [inaudible]. [inaudible to 35:00]

Victoria Ortegas: Asian way, Baruch way, or [inaudible]. I’m glad that you asked that question. Especially the simple fact that you know, I am multicultural and I am not originally from New York, I did have a bit of a problem in high school, actually, with dealing with social interaction because I’m used to the faculty and the students having, you know, some kind of a relationship and if you go out there [inaudible] and vice versa, but here in New York, because people don’t have the time, it is difficult. I wanted to do things and put my opinion out there and tell my counselor this, that and the other and I’m used to that being the systematic way of doing things, because my mother and father taught you, this is how you do stuff, this is how you interact. But that doesn’t work here in New York, so my father told me, okay, you’re not in Pennsylvania anymore, you have to do things this way, so I started speaking social interaction from him, which was the Mongolian side, which my father, [inaudible], so now I appoach people I talk to people and I do my business, it is on a more socially aggressive level. So I am a bit more outgoing than I was before, and that does take, actually, from the cultural side, from my father.

Marie Ting: What are you more aware of on a daily basis? When you wake up in the morning, do you think of yourself, I’m a woman, or I’m my ethnicity, or I’m a person of color, or I’m a New Yorker. What do you think it is, which part of your identity most impacts how you interact on a daily basis?

Victoria Ortegas: I think predominantly I’m a woman, because there are things I do have to face because of my sex and also because I do think of my father a lot, and my Mongolian side, a lot.

Lauren Lee: That’s a hard question. I think when I wake up, I see myself as a New Yorker, because I’ve grown up in New York my whole life, that’s how I am. [inaudible] people, I was [never very shy], I was always outgoing, [inaudible]. My parents raised me that, if you want something, you need to do it yourself, you can’t depend on anybody else. That’s how they saw it. There was always that pressure, you need to do well in school, because Asian parents are like that, they put a lot of pressure on education. My parents were always like, “grades, grades, grades!” I’m like, “Well, I want a job!” And at first they didn’t want me to get a job, I’ve been going to school and working for the past three or four years, they see that I can handle it to some level and I know I have extra pressure, I’ll take it off, I’ll take it away from someplace. And when other people have problems, like other Asian students have problems, I see from where they’re coming from, and how their parents are, what their culture expects from them. So that’s what you have to see about them, from their point of view, I know a lot of people, they struggle with studying, their grades, “Oh, I gotta get this A”, and at the same time I’m just like, you can’t put pressure on yourself, I understand your parents are putting that pressure on you, but it’s not all about the grades. You have to worry about yourself and your well-being first, you can’t stress yourself out, worry and tire yourself out because it’s not worth it, it’s degrading, and, cause that’s how it is, where your parents come from, it’s all about education, it’s all about getting those grades, but grades aren’t everything, that’s what you find out in life.

Female Audience Member: [inaudible]

Lauren Lee: I think we always do such things with an Asian parent, I remember in high school my mom was like, you have to go to prom with an Asian boy, and I was like, “What if I don’t?” She said, “No!” And [inaudible] my parents were very different. My mother was like, “You better marry a Chinese boy!” I was like, “Well, what if I don’t?” My father was like, “As long as he takes care of you, you’re happy, that’s okay.” My mom was like, “You better marry a Chinese boy!” I was like, “Mom!?” I was like, you live in New York City, you don’t know who you’re going to fall in love with, and I was trying to explain to her the positives, she’s like, “No, Chinese boy.” That’s a lot of Asian…my cousin, he actually dated a Haitian girl, and my grandmother was like, she was like horrified. My aunt, my family, they went crazy, but at the same time they’re slowly coming together. My cousin just got married and she actually married a Jewish man, and they’re very happy and you see how happy they are and I think happiness overcomes color. As long as the person, they care for you, and you’re happy, then that should be all it’s about. Should be, but I mean, it’s not.

Victoria Ortegas: Kind of similar with my parents. My mother, she was, pretty much, the typical Jewish mom, good grades, be successful. As far as who you’d marry? Doctor, lawyer, professor of some kind. And as far as race goes, since we were in a predominantly white neighborhood, it just so happened that we’re all [inaudible], [inaudible], she had a bit of a color complex with that, not so much as the fact that where they originally came from, but the fact that this person has light skin and dark skin, that’s what she was [inaudible], because on my mother’s side it was still along the same time as slavery for that side of the family, so they were still kind of stuck in that mentality. Yeah, so I had a hard time with dating then, but when I came up here to New York, I guess [inaudible], my father was a lot more [inaudible], so he was like, “As long as he treats you well then he’s okay, he’s safe.” So I [inaudible], I have a Puerto Rican boyfriend with a Mongolian name, who’s all into Asian culture, and as typical, he’s an older male too, but he treats me well, so my father’s happy.

Female Audience Member: I have a question for [inaudible]. You mentioned that your club is open to other students [inaudible], so I’m wondering about the extent of [inaudible] non-Asian students in the club.

Victoria Ortegas: Actually, we have quite a bit. I can say, we have a few [inaudible], they’re half Korean, [inaudible] or they have some Asian background with them somewhere. We also have some South Asian students who were working, actually with the Indian heritage club [inaudible] a lot. We have African American, Peruvian, Dominican, Puerto Rican, all around the board, basically. We have the entire population [inaudible]. So, I keep the door open, anyone can come in, even [inaudible] can come in, but eventually they end up finding a date for themselves, [inaudible].

Male Audience Member: [inaudible]

Marie Ting: I don’t think that, in my experience, that students should feel pressured to diversify, that’s not the purpose of the organization. For example, if there’s an Asian American group, that the person could be more advocacy, it might attract less non-Asians than if there were an Asian American group, that, and the goal of the group was to promote cultural activity. Then you might get more non-Asians, [inaudible], but yeah, I think the ideal situation would be for the university, probably, to have something for everybody, and that is very hard because, number one, funding, and for Lehman, in particular, when I looked at the budget for how each school breaks down, I think Baruch gets a lot of the funding for their school activities, and I understand it comes out of the students’ pockets somewhere along the line with the student activity fee, but try telling that to a student who wants to do all these cool things, but, okay, you’re going to have to pay an extra 12% on your activity fee. Then they take a step back and they’re like, “Oh, well maybe I don’t really want to do that.” What we have to understand, it does enrich your campus experience. So, I think if we could kind of work to compromise on that, we could have a better facility to promote better events, have a better club, and if one wants to be all one particular race or hobby, that’s fine, you’ll still have a whole, many other clubs available to students from campus. There is one particular club, the Dominican club, I have friends in it, and there are cool people, but I myself, I don’t really feel welcome to come in because it’s the Dominican club, and that’s the group that’s kind of clique-ish, ironically. So, I think if people within those particular clubs that you were talking about, if they feel that they themselves want a mixed group, and they can see the benefits of it, then they should start. They’ll have to just say, well today we’re going to hire ten members of whatever groups. Just talk to various people, get involved in other clubs, not just your own, and then you can see what you have in common with another person, and that you can open up the door.

Betty Lee Sung: I have a question. You talked only about the ethnic aspects of your student experience. How about some of the other things, like the faculty-student relationship, or other groups’ relationship, or your curriculum, are you happy with that? Is there any other, are there any other likes that you have?

Victoria Ortegas: Actually, I have one in particular. The student relationship with faculty is pretty good, we have some really cool professors, but I did see that because, over time, as far as the Asian population of professors, you retire, you go to schools, the courses that are available for Asian history and Asian culture [inaudible] over the past 10 to 20 years, so when I make my schedule for the fall, for the summer, I want to have, you know, a class that pertains to me. And, they’ll have it written there, but when you see the little marks for this is available, it won’t be available, or they had a choice of evening, and for me, it takes an hour for me to get home, and I don’t want to come home from school at 9 o’clock at night. So, it does weigh a lot into who can and cannot get the classes that they want, and if [inaudible] kind of develops more interest into the Asian history development, I think it will help allow more students to take more courses and actually be happy with their schedule, it’ll have something that they want to go to.

Lauren Lee: [inaudible]. Baruch, Baruch has such a huge Asian population, a lot more Asians [inaudible], all, like you’ve seen it, tons and tons of Asian students, and [inaudible], who will [inaudible], and they do have Mandarin classes, my friend actually takes it and they understand that [inaudible], they do have them at my school and [inaudible] faculty, faculty is more readily available, like they leave their office hours, their phone number, their email addresses if you need them, they’re there. For organizations, [inaudible] student life director, and you go there if you want to plan an event, and they’re always there for you, they know you on a personal level, so you talk to them, if they see you they say hi to you, they’re very friendly, if the professors see you and they know you they say hi, and it’s [Baruch].

Marie Ting: Now, [inaudible]I think the other group coming in, that I just want to wrap this up. I’m [inaudible] to say that this was kind of a different experience for me as well, because when I did this for my previous school, usually the panelists were people who were complaining about everything, and [inaudible], and we need this and that, and I think this reinforces for me, and probably for all [inaudible] that the Asian American population really is diverse, and that there are different needs and that people fall in different [inaudible] and racial identities, but that just makes working with Asian Americans a little more complicated, because rather than stereotyping, you need to really understand what the various issues are. So, if that’s the message, well that’s the message [I got], and I just wanted to thank our panelists for [inaudible].