WASHINGTON: Republican Congressmen, Dana Rohrabacher and Dancan Hunter of Southem California and Newton Gingrich of Georgia, the House GOP’s new minority whip, have urged the Jus tice Department’s intervention, to end discrimination against minority Asians desirous of seeking education at University of California at Berkely The House Representatives reacted angrily to the University’s law school discriminatory policy of reserving 23 per cent of the places in each entering year class for applicants of those minority races who were being seen as being under represented.
The GOP House members charged that this policy denies equal opportunity to Asian Americans who are being viewed as over represented in the law school: The university officials charge that Asian students out number at the campus in proportion to their general population.
However, various Asian groups, perceive this as a backlash against their academic success. They feel that Asians outscore their other counterparts and are thus admitted in greater numbers on merit basis. This should not be constructed that Asians can no longer enjoy minority status.
The move by GAO representatives is widely perceived as efforts by Republican Party to win loyalty of this important segment of California’s fast growing Asian American population.
California 2 million Asian Americans account for 7 percent of the state’s population, of which 4 percent are eligible voters. There totals obscure the fact that Asian American voters tend to be concentrated in some election districts where they can serve as formidable forces.
Surprisingly remarkable degree of cooperation and cordiality exist between various sub communities, lobbying for their fair share in American political system. This contrasts with frequent disputes between various Hispanic groups as a result of which their efforts to forge a joint police front are hindered.
However ethnic Asian groups fear that such statistics showing Asian’s success could invite a back lash. It is widely felt that a majority of Asian students entering medical school are from Japanese and Chinese origin.
Oh the other hand, number of foreign medical Graduates (FMG) entering US, residency. training programs have declined for the third successive year in a row. Currently they make up 22.4 percent of all residents, almost 6 percent down than three years ago. The decline in the number of FMG can be attributed to stringent testing.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 1, 1989
