I am writing to correct misinformation provided in the 2/25 article, "Asian Council Creates Assault Committee" written by Ritika Nandkeolyar.
In this article, Nandkeolyar paraphrases me as having said that in the early years of collecting demographic statistics, I "defined Asian students as those who were East Asian -- members of the Korean, Japanese and Chinese communities.".
This is neither an accurate portrayal of the term "east Asian" nor an accurate portrayal of the way I have collected demographics in this area. I provided the sub-communities of Chinese-American, Japanese-American, and Korean-American as examples of some of the earliest documented ethnic group memberships which reported sexual abuse to my office. I did not do so to the exclusion of all other groups. To state this compromises the accuracy of the article, which impacts the perceived accuracy of the statistics which have been painstakingly compiled and carefully reported.
An additional point which was important to all of us who have been involved in this awareness effort, but not included in the article, is the importance of providing concerned students with supportive resources. To that end, we encourage any student with questions or concerns about this issue to contact me,Nora Yasumura (the Asian Pacific American Programming Liaison), Yuhka Miura (PACIntern), a Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor (SAPA), or a Dick's House Counselor.
