Original News Article: http://www.aa2sbu.org/N5RacismUMich.shtml

Letter to U Mich President

Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 16:27:51 +0000
From: Phillip Akutsu <pakutsu@hotmail.com>
To: aapa@sfsu.edu
Subject: Racial incident at University of Michigan

Dear colleagues:

I am forwarding a copy of a letter that we sent as faculty in the Asian
Pacific Islander American (APIA) Studies program to the UM administration and Michigan Daily as an immediate response to the recent report of ethnic intimidation towards UM Asian American students.

I have included a link to the Michigan Daily where this story was reported on the front page so you may read about the heinous nature of this incident and will join us in expressing your outrage and disgust about this incident and challenge the UM administration to publicly decry this offense.

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/21/4330f61d9f9f0

At this time, the faculty in APIA Studies and other Asian American faculty
in other programs and departments are meeting with various student and faculty groups to discuss the next course of action to be taken. To date, President Mary Sue Colemen and other UM officials have not publicly expressed their outrage about this incident and we are troubled that such public silence may communicate that these types of ethnic intimidation or harassment are tolerated or condoned on this campus.

Please join us and make sure that others know about this incident and to
challenge UM officials to take a public stance against such acts and to mobilize the necessary resources to address this issue on a campus-wide basis.

Sincerely,

Phillip Akutsu

------------ Forwarded Message ------------

Date: Thursday, September 22, 2005 12:06 AM -0400

From: akstill@umich.edu

To: marysuec@umich.edu, emgram@umich.edu, lmonts@umich.edu,
harperer@umich.edu, matlock@umich.edu, pmaqui@umich.edu, pgurin@umich.edu,
daily.letters@umich.edu
Cc: apafaculty@umich.edu

Subject: Faculty concern over racial incident

To:

Mary Sue Coleman, President

Edward Gramlich, Interim Provost
Lester P. Monts, Senior Vice Provost
Royster Harper, Vice President for Student Affairs
John Matlock, Director, Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives;
Patricia Aqui, Director, Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs;
Patricia Gurin, Acting Director, Center for Institutional Diversity

An Open Letter

We, the core cluster of faculty in Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, work earnestly in our teaching and research to increase interracial understanding and tolerance throughout the UM community. One of our responsibilities is to educate students and colleagues alike to the deep historical record of anti-Asian racism and violence throughout American history.

An incident like the one reported on the front page of Wednesday's Michigan Daily (Sept. 21), involving two male university students assaulting a couple of Asian heritage by shouting racial slurs, throwing eggs, and urinating on the couple, is unequivocally outrageous. The incivility of this assault is incomprehensible.

We are also deeply troubled by the remarks of two leaders of Asian student
organizations interviewed in the story. Both spoke openly about experiencing racially-motivated bias themselves, and admitted that this kind of incident was not surprising to them. It is profoundly disturbing that students of color continue to endure racial bias and harassment on this campus, and we underscore the likelihood that such racial bias and intimidation is significantly underreported.

Incidents like the racially-motivated intimidation reported in today's Michigan Daily--also reported in the Ann Arbor News and the Detroit Free Press several days ago--cannot be tolerated or condoned by university officials or public authorities. Moreover, it is unfortunate that a public incident such as this has once again unmasked more pervasive ethnic and racial discrimination that remains underdocumented. We call on the university leadership to honor its commitment to valuing diversity, by taking a public stand against racially-motivated bias and attacks, and to marshall the necessary resources to ensure that the wider university community can collaborate collectively to end such race-based bias and
intimidation. We further call on university officials and public authorities to apply the full extent of civil and university codes in sanctioning the students who perpetrated the acts.

Phillip D. Akutsu

Vicente M. Diaz

Scott Kurashige

Emily P. Lawsin

Susan Y. Najita

Damon Salesa

Sarita See

Amy K. Stillman, Director

Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies
within the Program in American Culture
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
University of Michigan

***********************************************************
Phillip D. Akutsu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of Michigan
American Culture and Psychology
530 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI. 48109-11043
(734) 764-2415, FAX (734) 647-9440
E-mail: akutsu@umich.edu, pakutsu@hotmail.com