Nation Briefs
December 22, 2006
Rejected Applicant Alleges Bias Against Asians
Yale freshman Jian Li has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Princeton for rejecting his application for admission, claiming the university discriminated against him because he is Asian.
The complaint alleges that the university’s admissions procedures are biased because they give an advantage to other minority groups, namely blacks and Hispanics, and legacy applicants and athletes at the expense of Asian American applicants.
The case injects new life into a longstanding debate on affirmative action. Li’s minority status adds a new twist to the story, however, since previous complaints about universities’ racial preference policies have been filed by white students alleging bias.
Internship Opportunities For 2007
Vision New America announces recruitment for their 2007 Public Policy and Public Health & Policy Internship Programs. VNA offers over 60 summer internships in elected official offices and government agencies. The internship opportunities are for high school, college and graduate students to gain experience in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Washington, D.C., government offices. Interns are placed in offices on a local, state or federal level.
Interns receive a $300-2,000 scholarship. Interested high school and college students can obtain an application at www.VisionNewAmerica.org, or by calling (408) 260-0116. The deadline for application submissions is February 2, 2007.
Supreme Court Arguments Focus On Diversity
Asian American groups are urging the Supreme Court to uphold voluntary school desegregation plans in Seattle, Wash., and Louisville, Ky. In both cases, locally elected school boards voluntarily adopted measures to reverse racial segregation in their public schools, and considered race in their cities’ kindergarten to 12th grade classes.
Civil rights groups like the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) in New York and the Chinese for Affirmative Action/Center for Asian American Advocacy (CAA) in San Francisco have responded. AALDEF’s staff attorney Khin Mai Aung says, “Asian American students in particular rely on the invaluable benefits of racially integrated public schools, which more accurately reflect their communities and greater U.S. society.”
Mineta Receives Top Honor for Civilians
WASHINGTON — Former Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta has been named one of the recipients of this year’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Appointed by President George W. Bush as transportation secretary, Mineta has also served as mayor, congressman and commerce secretary under Bill Clinton.
The Medal of Freedom was established by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to recognize civilians for their efforts during World War II. The award was reinstated by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to honor distinguished service.
— The New York Times
Internment Monument Stirs Opposition
JEROME, Idaho — The National Park Service is worried about the effects of a feedlot proposed to be built 1-1/2 miles upwind of the Minidoka Internment National Monument, where over 13,000 Japanese Americans were confined during World War II.
Monument officials are worried about the impacts of the feedlot on air quality, increase in pests, dust, water, waste management and traffic.
Ron McFarland has applied to the Jerome County Commission for permission to build a livestock confinement operation for Big Sky Farms Limited Partnership. The proposed feedlot would hold 18,555 head of cattle.
Good English a Mental Boost
Asian men with good or excellent English skills are less likely to have mental health problems than those with poorer English proficiency, according to a study of immigrants to the U.S.
Asian American immigrants in general have lower rates of psychiatric disorders than American-born Asians and other native-born Americans with English proficiency, which is the main variable among men, and birthplace the key factor for women.
Asian American immigrant women were far less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, substance abuse or psychiatric disorder in their lifetime than were U.S.-born women.
“Compared to all Americans, Asian Americans had lower lifetime rates of any disorder,” said David Takeuchi, a University of Washington sociologist and lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
— The Daily Times
Koreans and KoreAms to Protest In Montana
SEOUL, South Korea — Twelve South Korean activists, who will join Korean American and labor activists and farmers, plan to go to the U.S. to protest a planned free trade deal between the two countries. South Korean and U.S. negotiators are set to meet in Montana for their fifth round of free trade talks. They launched negotiations in June and have since made headway, yet are unlikely to complete a deal by the end of this year as originally hoped. The pact would be Washington’s biggest since the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1993.
Farmers have been among the most vocal, protesting any reduction in protection for agricultural products, particularly rice, fearing that cheaper U.S. goods would jeopardize their livelihoods. The two countries’ trade is worth about US$72 billion a year.
Comments
Got something to say?