By: Rebekah Pipes
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.- On Friday, March 19, the UofA tweeted in response to recent racism toward the Asian community. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, the U.S. has seen a dramatic increase in Asian racism and hate crimes. Violent acts upon various Asian and Pacific Island communities sparked throughout the country, including the most recent attack in Atlanta, Georgia.
In the tweet, Joe Steinmetz, Chancellor of the University of Arkansas, stated that he “wants to make sure that these communities know that the University of Arkansas condemns these acts and that we are here to support our students, faculty, and staff.” The university offers resources, such as C.A.P.S. and the Employee Assistance Program, to help students and faculty during this time.
Andrew He, a senior at the UofA, says life on campus since the pandemic has not been particularly different than it was before. Mainly because he says racism against Asians has always existed, He says “a lot of the racism against Asians in America is very subtle and for many of us it’s that kind of subtle racism that gets brushed aside both by ourselves and others.”
The difference now: the media started covering it.
He expressed:
I consider myself generally pretty lucky. I mean there have been examples of Asians getting assaulted in the last year which I feel like generally rarely happened before, or if it did, it didn’t really make the news. It seems like racism against Asians has not increased significantly for me in my day to day life, but that might be because it’s hard to notice or because it’s viewed as so marginal that it’s just hard to measure. People are more likely to be explicitly racist against Asians, overall, as a result of the pandemic.
Multiple departments at the university, like the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance aim to create more inclusive environments. The university expresses support for Asian and Pacific Islander students, faculty, and staff.
