Current Events > PhD student rejected for prestigious fellowship for being Asian

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https://www.weareresonate.com/2021/11/hmong-american-phd-student-not-underrepresented-enough-for-underrepresentation-focused-fellowship/

A Hmong American PhD student has been left outraged after being rejected for a Fellowship that prizes itself on helping underrepresented communities. Neuroscience Ph.D. student Kao Lee Yang was deemed illegible for the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowship because she did no qualify for Racial/Ethnic Underrepresentation. According to the HHMI website, the goals of the Gilliam program are to ensure that students from groups historically excluded from and underrepresented in science are prepared to assume leadership roles in science and science education, and to foster the development of a healthier, more inclusive academic scientific ecosystem by partnering with faculty and institutions committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the sciences. In a thread on Twitter, Yang explained how the Fellowship requires two levels of nomination before you can even apply/compete. First, your institution has to nominate you to HHMI, then HHMI has to determine you are, indeed, eligible. My institution nominated me. HHMI determined I was not underrepresented.

Because there are many subcategories under Asian American, Yang highlighted the dangers of grouping everyone together. I am an example of the consequences resulting from the continued practice of grouping people with East/Southeast/South Asian heritages underneath the Asian American umbrella, she said. The model minority myth perpetuates notions that all Asian Americans are doing well in America, are well-represented in science, etc. But studies making those claims are looking at aggregated data and are treating Asian Americans as a monolithic group. We are not a monolithic group. While some Asian Americans are academically successful, others like the Hmong, are underrepresented in STEM and academia in general. Yang emphasised that her frustration stems not from being entitled to receive the Fellowship but more that she was unable to compete for it. I am not saying I should receive this fellowship on the basis of my racial/ethnic group. I am appalled that I was not even allowed to compete for it because I was determined by HHMI to not be underrepresented.

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She absolutely right, Asians arent some monolithic group and skews the number, different Asian ethnicities have different levels of representation in America, but its obviously easier from a date standpoint to group them together.

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grew up around a lot of hmong kids in a poor neighborhood. most were from vietnam and from low income households with no college grads. definitely a huge mistake to lump them in with the stereotypical wealthy suburban overachiever chinese/koreans.

Cpt_Pineapple posted...

would somebody from India or Pakistan be considered Asian?

Yea. They are South Asian. As mentioned in OP for some reason we just group East/Southeast/South Asian all under Asian American on those forms.

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Cpt_Pineapple posted...

would somebody from India or Pakistan be considered Asian?

They are categorized under Asian when collecting data

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Eminem: "There goes another lawsuit."

This is a nonstory. I, a white dude, have gotten prestigious fellowships meant for underrepresented minorities. Chances are this person comes from an extremely privileged background.

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Yes, grouping all Asians together and using those numbers to make decisions about which groups are underrepresented or not is definitely a non-issue.

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shockthemonkey posted...

Why?

Because the majority of these programs have an extremely broad sense of underrepresentation, and the likelihood is that this person just comes from an extremely privileged background and is trying to ride out the "asians are discriminated against due to affirmative action" outrage cycle.

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As a Viet, I know exactly how she feels. Most of the "privileges" asians get in this country are actually the East Asians (Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese), while many of us South East Asians are getting the lower end of the stick. Not to say there aren't any South East Asians from higher income class, but those are in the minority in comparison to the actual population.

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aren't hmongs one of the smallest asian groups by population? They also dont have a country of their own

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This is crazy.

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KhlavicLanguage posted...

grew up around a lot of hmong kids in a poor neighborhood. most were from vietnam and from low income households with no college grads. definitely a huge mistake to lump them in with the stereotypical wealthy suburban overachiever chinese/koreans.

It's so true. Most of the overachiever Asians come from rich backgrounds. The poor ones have it just as bad if not worse than other minorities due to a language barrier and lack of connections in the community. I myself came from poor parents and my experience growing up was completely different from my peers. I remember there was a time where we had to find people to interview regarding their jobs. My classmates found doctors, engineers, etc. I found waiters and factory workers.

Anyways, I'm not a fan of racial programs to begin with. What ends up happening is it just goes to the rich parts of the minority group, and the poor ones are left behind. They need to do cut the shit, and just do it by income. If your parents make below this, you're eligible. If you're parents are rich, no. You got enough help.

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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

Because the majority of these programs have an extremely broad sense of underrepresentation, and the likelihood is that this person just comes from an extremely privileged background and is trying to ride out the "asians are discriminated against due to affirmative action" outrage cycle.

Dude is Hmong. Not a high chance hes from a extremely privileged background. Not all Asians are the same.

WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

This is a nonstory. I, a white dude, have gotten prestigious fellowships meant for underrepresented minorities. Chances are this person comes from an extremely privileged background.

You are ignorant.

CruelBuffalo posted...

Dude is Hmong. Not a high chance hes from a extremely privileged background. Not all Asians are the same.

She*

And there's almost no way someone from a non privileged background would be able to take on the financial strain of two 2+ year Master's programs before entering their PhD.

Not to mention the "story" has gained absolutely no traction, suggesting no "there-there".

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And Im sure grouping all Europeans as white people has a similar effect.

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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

She*

And there's almost no way someone from a non privileged background would be able to take on the financial strain of two 2+ year Master's programs before entering their PhD.

Not to mention the "story" has gained absolutely no traction, suggesting no "there-there".

In that case there is no chance no one non-privileged could reach the scholarship.

Story also broke recently and you really think Ph. d scholarships is a hot button issue people are gonna talk about.

CruelBuffalo posted...

In that case there is no chance no one non-privileged could reach the scholarship.

Certainly they can! You don't need a Master's to enter a PhD program, never mind two. The only students who do that are usually students who do that are students who had a shitty undergrad record and have the money to spare to make up for it with a master's degree. In her case, her master's degrees were in completely different things, so she just decided to take on an extra 40k of tuition debt, plus whatever living expenses cost, to shift to a new career goal.

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The fact that race even plays a factor in this is fucking disgusting.

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This kind of feels like a nice step towards realizing it is a bad idea in general to dole out advantages/disadvantages to entire ethnic groups when we can easily do it based on individual need
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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

Because the majority of these programs have an extremely broad sense of underrepresentation, and the likelihood is that this person just comes from an extremely privileged background and is trying to ride out the "asians are discriminated against due to affirmative action" outrage cycle.

Which is a weaksauce excuse since almost everybody who gets into those programs comes from privilege. It feels like you're just looking for an excuse to hate on Asians, which is problematic given the currently trend of hatred against the Asian-American community.

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Zeus posted...

everybody who gets into those programs comes from privilege

That is what these programs are designed to combat against!

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That is what these programs are designed to combat against!

So no one who is Hmong or Burmese is allowed to apply because while those populations are extremely impoverished on average compared to other Americans (including Black, Latino, and Asian Americans)...anyone who manages to get into university programs is automatically assumed to not come from an impoverished background and must be from a privileged and doesn't deserve the scholarship.

That's your argument right?

See, the issue is that you just don't really know what you're talking about here.

Like you don't really understand what Master's programs are, why they are so expensive, and why universities almost never provide any financial assistance for them.

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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

See, the issue is that you just don't really know what you're talking about here.

Like you don't really understand what Master's programs are, why they are so expensive, and why universities almost never provide any financial assistance for them.

Ok but this scholarship is for it. So

I also have a masters degree but \_()_/

...

Again, you are just confidently talking out of your ass. This is a fellowship for PhD students, who are already in a program (which means, already don't have tuition, already have a stipend).

Master's programs aren't funded by universities because they provide funding for departments. Departments only have Master's programs to rake in cash and keep the other departmental programs afloat.

Just, like, do some reading before confidently saying you know what you're talking about.

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Man who defends israeli warcrimes posting this bs

I just don't understand why people find it so hard to just read about the things they talk about.

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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

I just don't understand why people find it so hard to just read about the things they talk about.

Its just hard to accept a guy who defends war crimes from certain country is supposedly against bigotry

Exactly 0 posters on this board respect your opinion on anything.

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WeeWeiWiiWie posted...

Exactly 0 posters on this board respect your opinion on anything.

So? You defend warcrimes. Notice how you are getting called out racist here.

Lol and aren't you like 5 foot 1 irl. Says it all

SpiritSephiroth posted...

The fact that race even plays a factor in this is fucking disgusting.

Yup. Should go to whoever deserves it not who is most "underrepresented".

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runewalshPSiv posted...

Yup. Should go to whoever deserves it not who is most "underrepresented".

Oftentimes the people underrepresented are the same ones who most deserve it

Another reason why Critical Race Theory needs to be taught in America.

I know it's a hot take, but I'm against racial discrimination.

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Zikten posted...

Oftentimes the people underrepresented are the same ones who most deserve it

Another reason why Critical Race Theory needs to be taught in America.

I don't think that is necessarily true.

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Man its so awesome being over 6 feet tall.

I wonder. If you are a scientist and like 4'10 do they buy you a lab coat meant for a kids halloween costume?

shockthemonkey posted...

What a random time to troll about height

Did i strike a nerv

Zikten posted...

Oftentimes the people underrepresented are the same ones who most deserve it

Another reason why Critical Race Theory needs to be taught in America.

I agree AsianCrit can teach people not to group Asians as a monolith

The only rich Hmong people in America is self made. None of them came from a place of privilege.

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