By Dr. Kathy Rim and Raymond Chang
O
n December 10, 2022, at Purdue Northwest University, at what should have been a celebration of a milestone achievement for so many families, Chancellor Thomas Keon casually mocked Asian languages in the form of a “joke.” The impact of Keon’s unsophisticated “words” rippled far beyond the PNU commencement audience. Keon’s joke was an all too familiar reminder of the “ching chong” that many Asian Americans have had to tolerate and endure for generations. Americans of Asian descent deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and Keon’s public denigration of Asian languages and cultures contributes to the pernicious pattern of anti-Asian prejudice, discrimination, racism, and violence endured in our communities for generations. Unfortunately, far too many Asian Americans have experienced their own version of Chancellor Keon in their own institutions of higher learning. Then there was the laughter that those around Chancellor Keon burst into. This too, is an occurrence that many Asian Americans have experienced. The laughter that emerges by observers and bystanders of those who see Asian Americans as an easy target of mockery is an all too familiar one.
In addition to the public ridicule of Asian languages, we saw a response that many felt was a defensive, non-apology apology by the Chancellor. This “apology” incited even more frustration and anger, which led students and faculty members at Purdue Northwest to call for his resignation.
This incident is unfortunate but it is also preventable. We believe the lessons learned from others’ mistakes can lead to positive changes everywhere. We call on institutional leaders to uphold their responsibility to excoriate prejudice, discrimination, and violence against communities of color and to actively engage in the work to promote racial justice, equity, and dignity for AAPI students, faculty, and staff on our campus. We call on you to not waste this learning and leadership opportunity to address the potentially harmful climates, cultures, norms, processes, and structures embedded within our own campus community that have led or could lead to future incidents of anti-Asian xenophobia, prejudice, racism, and/or violence.
As Christians, we believe in redemption, restoration, and repair. We believe things can be remedied when wrongs are committed. Righteous remorse leads to righteous action - which includes reparative action. We want accountability over seeing people get canceled. But we have also seen institutions defend troubling behavior and problematic positions. We also believe that people and institutions can change and make things right. To this end, we propose taking action on the following items:
Implement anti-Asian bias, harassment, and discrimination policies and ensure that these policies are enforced among students, faculty, staff, administrators, and board members.
Offer Asian American Studies and Ethnic Studies programs, including but not limited to the history of the AAPI community in order to provide a more complete and nuanced understanding of the experiences and contributions of the diverse AAPI community; Incorporate the perspectives and experiences of the AAPI community into existing course and programs on campus.
Prioritize cultural sensitivity training for all members of the campus community (especially those in leadership) to create a more inclusive and respectful environment and prevent incidents of discrimination and prejudice.
Adopt cultural competency and racial bias awareness requisites when making hiring and promotion decisions.
Fund, support, and resource Asian American campus groups, organizations, and ministries that provide a sense of belonging and encouragement to Asian American students, faculty, and administrators and increase retention at institutions that were not designed with us in mind.
Ensure that diversity and equity oriented offices have full time employed representatives from the various racial groups that demonstrate a proven cultural competency.
Stand with the AAPI community in calling for Chancellor Keon to offer a sincere and substantive apology with the remedying actions listed above at Purdue Northwest. If he is unwilling, issue a public statement/press release to call for a resignation of his position at Purdue Northwestern University as his comments and his soft “apology” demonstrates a lack of repentance.
We ask the leadership of all higher educational institutions to enthusiastically accept this challenge and take deliberate steps to implement our proposal. Not only will taking swift action make the members of the AAPI community, in our campus communities and beyond, feel seen, heard and valued, but the institutions that move in this direction will be sending a message to the broader higher education community as a whole, prompting other institutions to follow your lead. We want historically and presently marginalized members of our communities to feel proud to be part of the institutions we will one day call our alma mater and we are confident that the bold changes you make today will reap rewards for generations to come.
Photo by Good Free Photos on Unsplash
Dr. Kathy Rim serves as the Special Projects Manager for AACC. She is a former academic turned social activist. She is deeply passionate about addressing racism in all contexts and committed to ending gun violence in the U.S.
Pastor Raymond Chang is the president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative, a pastor, and writer. He regularly preaches God’s Word and speaks throughout the country on issues pertaining to Christianity and culture, race and faith. He has lived throughout the world (Korea, Guatemala, Panama, Spain, China), traveled to nearly 50 countries, and currently lives in Chicagoland, serving as the Executive Director of the TENx10 Collaboration (an initiative of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Seminary), which is a collaborative movement that is geared towards reaching 10 million young people over 10 years with the gospel). Prior to his role at Fuller, Raymond served for 7+ years as the Associate Chaplain for Discipleship at Wheaton College. He also worked in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and served in the Peace Corps in Panama. He is currently pursuing his PhD on the intersection of Spirituality and Campus/Organizational Racial Climates. He is married to Jessica Chang.