Jian Li

Jian Li (zh-c|c=李简, born 1988 in the People's Republic of China) is a Chinese American undergraduate student at Harvard University, having transferred from Yale University where he first studied [ [http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/06/11/21269/ Investigation into alleged admissions bias expands - The Daily Princetonian ] ] . Li, who holds Chinese citizenship, is a US permanent resident, having immigrated with his family to the United States at age 4. In November 2006, he filed a civil rights complaint with the Office for Civil Rights against Princeton University, claiming that his race played a role in their decision to reject his application for admission, and seeking the suspension of federal financial assistance to the university until it "discontinues discrimination against Asian Americans in all forms" by eliminating race and legacy preferences.cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116321461412620634.html|first=Daniel|last=Golden|title=Is Admissions Bar Higher for Asians At Elite Schools?|date=2006-11-11|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=The Wall Street Journal]

Academic background

Li graduated from a public high school in Livingston, New Jersey in the top 1% of his class, having received a perfect score of 2400 on the SAT, as well as perfect or near-perfect scores on SAT Subject Tests in math level 2, physics, and chemistry.cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-2/11699609028420.xml&coll=5|title=Asian bias fight grows|date=2007-01-28|accessdate=2007-01-31|last=Stern|first=Robert]

Filing of complaint

Li came to the decision to file a civil rights complaint against Princeton after reading studies by Princeton researchers which claimed that ending affirmative action in university admissions would lead to 80% of placements currently offered to black and Latino students instead being given to Asian Americans.cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/11/26/victim_of_success/|date=2006-11-26|accessdate=2007-01-21|last=Shea|first=Christopher|title=Victims of Success? Are Asian-American students discriminated against in college admissions?|publisher=The Boston Globe] [cite journal|last=Espenshade|first=Thomas|coauthors=Chang Y. Chung; Joan L. Walling|journal=Social Science Quarterly|date=December 2004|accessdate=2007-01-26|url=http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00284.x|title=Admission Preferences for Minority Students, Athletes, and Legacies at Elite Universities|doi=10.1111/j.0038-4941.2004.00284.x|volume=85|pages=1422] [cite journal|last=Espenshade|first=Thomas|coauthors=Chang Y. Chung; Lauren Hale|journal=Social Science Quarterly|date=June 2005|accessdate=2007-01-21|url=http://opr.princeton.edu/faculty/Tje/EspenshadeSSQPtII.pdf|title=The Opportunity Cost of Admissions Preferences at Elite Universities|format=PDF] [cite news|url=http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S11/80/78Q19/index.xml|publisher=Princeton University|date=2005-06-06|accessdate=2007-01-25|title=Ending affirmative action would devastate most minority college enrollment]

Li filed the complaint to "send a message to the admissions committee to be more cognizant of possible bias, and that the way they're conducting admissions is not equitable."cite news|url=http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/LarryElder/2006/12/14/what_if_the_nba_had_quotas|last=Elder|first=Larry|authorlink=Larry Elder|publisher=Townhall.com|date=2006-12-14|accessdate=2007-01-21|title=What if the NBA had quotas?] Though Li is not seeking any personal compensation, his complaint calls for the suspension of federal financial assistance to Princeton until it "discontinues discrimination against Asian-Americans in all forms" by eliminating race and legacy preferences. [cite news|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50A15FF3C540C748CDDA80894DF404482|title=Little Asia On the Hill|date=2007-01-07|accessdate=2007-01-31|last=Egan|first=Timothy|publisher= New York Times]

Reaction to the case

Li's case received several instances of media attention in late 2006, including coverage in "The Wall Street Journal" and China's "People's Daily", as well as a supportive opinion piece written by Townhall.com columnist Larry Elder. [cite news|url=http://chinese.people.com.cn/GB/42487/5049913.html|title=SAT考取满分仍遭拒收 华裔生责美国名校歧视亚裔 (Got full marks on the SAT, but still rejected; Chinese student alleges famous US school discriminates against Asian Americans)|publisher=People's Daily|date=2006-11-16|accessdate=2007-01-21|last=Tian|first=Xingchun] Li also stated that students at Brown University had contacted him in an effort to start a nationwide campus movement to end discrimination against Asian Americans.cite news|title=At Princeton, a Parody Raises Questions of Bias|last=Arenson|first=Karen W.|publisher=The New York Times|date=2007-01-23|accessdate=2007-01-24|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/education/23princeton.html] [cite news|title=Two students challenge Asian American admission discrimination|last=Chen|first=Irene|publisher=The Brown Daily Herald|date=2007-02-09|accessdate=2007-02-09|url=http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/02/09/CampusNews/Two-Students.Challenge.Asian.American.Admission.Discrimination-2709633.shtml] However, student writers were less sympathetic. Li's fellow Yale student Jonathan Pitts-Wiley wrote a column in the "The Daily Princetonian" which accused him of "unnecessarily racializ [ing] a personal defeat".

Parody article in the Daily Princetonian

Later, on January 17 2007, the "Daily Princetonian" published, in its annual joke issue, an alleged guest opinion column written in mock Chinglish under the pseudonym "Lian Ji", in which the writer, parodying Li's attitude and experiences, wrote:: "I so good at math and science ... I the super smart Asian. Princeton the super dumb college, not accept me ... My dad from Kung Pao province. I united 500 years of Rice Wars ... I love Yale. Lots of bulldogs here for me to eat." [cite news|url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/17/opinion/17109.shtml|title=Princeton University is racist against me, I mean, non-whites|last=Li|first=Jian (pseudonym)|date=2007-01-17|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=The Daily Princetonian] Campus groups and alumni criticized the student newspaper for the mock article seeing it as expressing anti-Asian bigotry. Vice President for Student Life Janet S. Dickerson stated that "The Prince exercised poor judgment in including offensive material in this year's joke issue." [cite news|url=http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1169269625209370.xml&coll=5|title=Many see student column as no joke|last=Isherwood|first=Darryl R.|date=2007-01-20|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=The New Jersey Times] Chanakya Sethi, then editor-in-chief of the "Princetonian", wrote a statement of regret two days after the publication of the original article, claiming that the article was an attempt at humor, had no racist intention behind it, and had "provoked serious thought about issues of race, fairness and diversity." He also noted that the editorial board of the "Princetonian" included several Asians. [cite news|url=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/01/19/news/17133.shtml|date=2007-01-19|accessdate=2007-01-21|publisher=The Daily Princetonian|last=Sethi|first=Chanakya|title=Editors' note] At least one South Asian student journalist at Harvard expressed his support for Sethi, and accused critics of "constantly pulling [the issue] towards their own prejudices. [cite news|title=The Campus That Cried "Wolf"|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516680|last=Mahtani|first=Sahil K|date=2007-01-22|accessdate=2007-01-24|publisher=The Harvard Crimson] However, prominent Asian Americans rejected Sethi's explanation. Jeff Yang, a columnist for the "San Francisco Chronicle" and member of the Asian American Journalists Association, denounced the statement of regret as a "creative nonapology", [cite web|url=http://www.ouatic.com/mojomail/mojo.pl?flavor=archive&id=20070120150231&list=yanglist|title=Rosie, Princeton, and the rules of race and funny|date=2007-01-20|accessdate=2007-01-24|last=Yang|first=Jeff] while author Chang-rae Lee, who also teaches creative writing at Princeton, stated that the article "employed the easiest, basest stereotypes of culture and character and voice for its sensational aims, offering little more than the most juvenile gloss on the issues ... frankly, the piece astounds me not so much for its racism as its stupidity." The controversy was quickly picked up by national newspapers; Li himself characterized the article as "extremely distasteful" in an Associated Press interview, stating that "whoever decided to publish it showed an extreme lapse of judgment". [cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16733741|publisher=MSNBC|date=2007-01-21|accessdate=2007-01-22|title=Princeton newspaper column stirs controversy]

ee also

*Political correctness
*Affirmative action
*Racial quota
*Race card

References