Newsbytes

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Some news from around the way:

U.S. Widens Princeton Bias Probe

Princeton University said the Education Department broadened its investigation of possible discrimination against Asian-American applicants.

In 2006, federal officials began investigating a claim from a student that Princeton rejected him because of his race and national origin. The student, 19-year-old Jian Li, initially enrolled at Yale University and is now at Harvard. Princeton says it didn't discriminate against Mr. Li.
History in the making in Eastern District of New York

It has been a long American journey for George Matsumoto, from Japanese Internment Camp Three in Arizona during World War II to Room 226 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building here yesterday.

But Matsumoto seemed to take satisfaction in where that journey has taken him and his family after he watched Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) chair a brief hearing here that virtually assures Senate confirmation of his daughter Kiyo Ann Matsumoto as a lifetime U.S. District Judge in Brooklyn.
Report Takes Aim at "Model Minority Stereotype of Asian-American Students says NYT

The report quotes the opening to W. E. B. Du Bois’s 1903 classic "The Souls of Black Folk" — "How does it feel to be a problem?" — and says that for Asian-Americans, seen as the "good minority that seeks advancement through quiet diligence in study and work and by not making waves," the question is, "How does it feel to be a solution?"

That question, too, is problematic, the report said, because it diverts attention from systemic failings of K-to-12 schools, shifting responsibility for educational success to individual students. In addition, it said, lumping together all Asian groups masks the poverty and academic difficulties of some subgroups.
A Good Day for Priscilla Ahn

Very few Asian American women foray into Pop Music - let alone making big in the world of music. This time around, singer and songwriter Priscilla Ahn has made the break-through.