Other students say they have seen similargraffiti elsewhere, in the Cabot Science Libraryand some house libraries. On the walls of Cabotstudy cubicles can be found numerous comments thatstereotype Asians as science nerds and makederogatory statements about Asian women.
Sohn says in one house library he saw a list of"the top 10 reasons to hate Asians."
The two that were filled in included "they'reall selfish and materialistic" and "they're allscience geeks," he says. "It enraged me," Sohnsays.
No Voices on Campus'
Though students are angered by suchmanifestations of anti-Asian feeling, they saythat in general Harvard is a comfortableenvironment for those of Asian descent.
Yet they are troubled, they say, by the lack ofAsian-Americans in Harvard's senioradministration.
"My biggest problem here is thatAsian-Americans have no voices on this campus,"says Yoon. "A lot of that is due to that fact thatthere are no faculty or administrators pushing forthem."
Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, Harvard'srace relations coordinator, says he "does thinkthat we can make further efforts to bring youngAsians into administrative and tutor positions."
"I have promised to hold meetings with graduateAsian groups to bring opportunities to theirattention," he says.
Another concern for some students is the dearthof courses and study opportunities onAsian-American topics.
"I'm writing a thesis on Asian-Americans...it'skind of frustrating to know you can't get most ofyour information here," says Chang.
And a few students questioned Harvard'sadmissions process, suggesting that race-blindadmissions would enlarge the College'sAsian-American percentage significantly.
But admissions officer Lewison Lee Lem '89 saysthat the effect of race blind admissions cannot bejudged.
"It's hard to know what would be the result,"he says.
The admissions office's main concern, he says,is to make sure that students from allbackgrounds, including blue-collar, recentimmigrants, and smaller Asian-American subgroupsget to Harvard.
"It's important to have diversity within racialgroups as well as among racial groups," he says.
Lem says presently the largest Asian-Americangroups on campus are Chinese-Americans andKorean-Americans, while other groups, such asFilipino-Americans, have smaller presences.
Some Asian-American students have becomeinvolved in admissions office activities in orderto ensure increased representation ofAsian-Americans form all backgrounds, which theysay they hope will ultimately result in a greaterpresence--and voice--for Asian-Americans oncampus.
Pizzarro has worked to recruitFilipino-Americans in high schools and junior highschools in California, and says she believes hervisits have been useful.
"Definitely telling them early helps a lot,"she says. "Sometimes it's too late to talk toseniors and juniors."