‘Visionary’ Tackles Complex Asian Issues

Sophia Lai ’04 is unabashedly idealistic.

Even upon first introduction to the vocal advocate for Ethnic Studies and Asian American issues on campus, one is immediately struck by how deeply she thinks about and questions everything—the operation of society, its organization, her place in it and how it can best be improved.

Lai’s warm smile complements a determined expression that hints at the friendly intensity with which she approaches life—whether heading the Asian American Association (AAA), leading a Freshman Urban Program (FUP) group or contemplating the way in which society can change for the better.

“She’s a visionary, she’s really good at seeing the ideal picture and at bringing people together,” says blockmate Janet H. Yueh ’04.

Lai is the kind of woman who turned in her Social Studies senior thesis—an examination of the legitimacy of Asian American studies in higher education—and celebrated by attending a conference on Asian American issues the next day at 9 a.m.

It’s not that Lai doesn’t know how to have fun—she’s quick to laugh and has a huge circle of admiring friends, at least 359 of them according to thefacebook.com. Rather, she says she just has the most fun when she is challenging herself and others to engage deeply with what she calls her “issues,” whether it’s during marathon conversations in the Currier dining hall with blockmates or through her leadership in the movement for Ethnic Studies.

Friends say this passion has made those around her feel that they should start asking some questions of their own and that it has prompted the organizations she has been involved with to start reeavaluating their goals.

RECOGNIZING SYSTEMIC INJUSTICE

Lai says she became interested in political issues at a young age, in part because of her family’s connection to Taiwan.

Lai’s parents emigrated from Taiwan to the U.S. in 1975, and she grew up hearing them express their support of democracy and independence for their native country.

In 1995 Lai’s parents took her to see the president of Taiwan speak at Cornell University, an experience she cites as a major turning point.

“It really influenced me,” she says. “In American schools you’re constantly instilled with patriotic values, and you don’t realize that it’s different in other countries.”

She also says she feels that people who are Taiwanese are often automatically considered inferior to the Chinese, although prejudice can often be subtle.

“People in America often don’t realize that Asians aren’t all the same,” she says, noting that many tensions exist among various Asian groups and within the Asian American comgroups and within the Asian American community.

“It’s very important to understand the diversity within ethnic groups, to know that they’re not just monolithic,” she says.

Lai says that as she learned more about what she called systemic injustices against people in Taiwan, she became increasingly interested in broader issues of racial and ethnic prejudice in the United States as well.

Lai lived a relatively sheltered life growing up in Pittsford, N.Y., a small suburb outside of Rochester.

Her high school was made up of relatively affluent students, about 92 percent of whom were white, four percent black, and four percent East and South Asian.

Lai says she first realized that this composition was not necessarily typical when she attended a Center for Talented Youth (CTY) summer program and other camps during her high school years.

“A huge proportion of where I’m from is very conformist, upper-middle class, suburban, and white,” she says.

Lai decided she liked the diversity she experienced during her summers, and made it a criterion in her college search. She chose to attend Harvard, a school she believed would offer the diversity she craved.

Yet, Lai says attending Harvard only served to open her eyes to a whole new range of inequalities that exist in American society, despite its seeming diversity.

When she entered as a first-year, Lai says she bought into the so-called “model minority” myth about Asian Americans—they were naturally hard-working and dutiful, and thus attained more success in American society than other minority groups.

“I thought that if people had strong values, worked hard and delayed gratification, they would be successful,” she says.

Lai says she was proud that she had attended a public high school, and that her father had worked his way out of poverty and given her the opportunities that allowed her to reach Harvard’s halls. She decided hard work was the key to success in the Unites States.

Yet she soon discovered she was an exception rather than the rule.

“I realized I was unusual, that my father was actually poor in Taiwan but that at Harvard many kids come from elite Taiwanese families,” she says.

She notes that she has observed the same phenomenon among other minority groups on campus, as well, with many coming from relatively privileged families.

“At Harvard I realized that some people, no matter how hard they work, will never get here. Society is really not mobile,” she says.

Lai had initially joined the Harvard Republican Club, because they shared her meritocratic values.

But after a few months, Lai says, “I realized this system of meritocracy I believed in doesn’t work, and that we need to look at how we can change it.”

She joined the AAA, the Taiwanese Cultural Society and other ethnic and cultural initiatives, searching for answers. She also became a FUP leader, working to teach incoming first-years about the ways they could recognize and combat systemic injustice.

A Push for Diversity

Lai says that her experience as a Social Studies concentrator has forced her to think more critically about the way in which elite systems are perpetuated at Harvard.

She believes that as Harvard students we are all subtly socialized to fulfill certain privileged social roles.

“One thing that is really striking about Harvard is that a lot of people come in thinking they can do anything, so why is it we come out thinking there are only a few real options that will make us prestigious and successful,” Lai asks.

Lai believes much of this has to do with things as simple as our dining services.

“Here it is all-you-can-eat, 24 hours a day with brain break, master’s teas and free food everywhere,” she says. “I appreciate the resources, but...people get a sense of entitlement.”

“The fact that we have a formal every semester and we get so dressed up is preparing us for high society. We must realize that it’s not normal,” she says.

Lai believes that increasing the diversity of course selection at Harvard is one way that these elite systems can start to be dismantled, and thus her senior thesis explored the legitimacy of Asian American studies in higher education.

Lai says there is a common misconception that Asian American and Ethnic Studies are merely about being politically correct, and allowing minorities to “feel good” by talking about their experiences.

“Ethnic Studies is about communities exploring identity, but it is also about examining greater power narratives,” she says. “In white, elite institutions we lose awareness that so many perspectives are missing.”

Lai was a student representative on Harvard’s Committee on Ethnic Studies, and helped to launch the Asian American Studies Seminar Series that sponsored lectures by visiting professors in Asian American studies to introduce students to the subject area.

She views this as just the first step, and hopes that the momentum for more diverse courses of study will continue to build in the future.

As for her personal future plans, next year Lai will be a paralegal for the Department of Justice doing anti-trust law in San Francisco and wants to do volunteer work with Asian American immigrant groups.

She eventually plans to attend law school and practicing civil rights or immigration law.

“I want to continue to look at systems and how they affect particular groups. Morally, there is an obligation to address issues for people who don’t have people speaking for them,” Lai says, adding that her Christian faith helps her maintain her idealistic intensity.

“Because I’m someone who is motivated by faith as a whole, it provides hope. The system is broken, but I believe there is a justice and there is a truth. Values should be made tangible in people’s lives,” she says.

Her acquaintances seem to agree that Lai will make her presence quite tangible to countless people in the future.

“She will be working with people no matter what,” Chiu says. “She does an amazing job at reaching out and forging deep relationships.”

Lai says that no matter what her future endeavors, “the most important thing to me is if what I’m doing is effective.”

Judging by her career at Harvard, it appears that should be the last thing Lai should worry about.

—Staff writer Margaretta E.Homsey can be reached at homsey@fas.harvard.edu.