The recent discussion about Dartmouth’s new president, Jim Yong Kim, sparked quite a bit of discussion on the 8asians internal mailing list, and brought back memories of my college days at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). After reading that Penn had a 23.3% Asian population compared with other schools in the Ivy League, I commented to the internal list:
Yay to Penn for having the highest percentage! This is a huge improvement over when I attended Penn when Asians made up only 10 to 11 percent in 1985 (which was up from 5 percent in 1980)
In 1985, there were much fewer shades of gray in the world, and if you were Chinese and on Penn’s campus, you were one of the two types of Asian on campus. Forgive me for using these terms, but you were either a “banana” or you were part of the Chinese clique. I didn’t self-identify either way, but I was lumped into the “banana” category, since I didn’t hang out in the Chinese clique.
My 4 closest friends in college comprised of a Latina woman, a Jewish woman, a Caucasian ROTC cadet, and a Catholic Italian man. There was no lack of diversity in my crowd. But I didn’t have a close Asian friend in college. With 11% to choose from, you’d think that would have been easy, but I was the only Asian on my dorm floor, and my closest friends came from those that lived around me.
As my social life in college progressed, the lack of “Asians” in my life began to bother me more. Here I was, an immigrant to the U.S. who spoke Chinese and English, and yet, I had no Asian friends in college. In junior year, I joined the CSA (the Chinese Student Association) at Penn. While joining wasn’t a problem, and neither was introducing myself to others in the group; what really bothered me was that everyone in the CSA hung out only with other members of the CSA. I’d see them on campus and they’d be walking around in groups together. There was no diversity in their group. No token Caucasian or African-American.
I’d wave hi at someone I knew in CSA while I was on campus with my friends, and they would avert their eyes. I began to wonder, where was the middle ground? Could you be Asian and have both Asian and non-Asian friends? In the end, I gave up on the CSA, and stuck with my close set of friends. Today, my friends from college remain my closest friends, and I’ve been able to augment my set of friends with both Asians and non-Asians, and continue to have a diverse group of friends.
After reflecting back on my college days, I have to ask if my experience was unique and if Asians still segregate themselves into two types on college campuses? If you went to college, were you able to balance a line between those two stereotypes or did you fall into one of those buckets?
