Co-Synthesis of Dynamics Behind the Dearth of Asian American Law Professors: A Unique Narrative

Co-Synthesis of Dynamics Behind the Dearth of Asian American Law Professors: A Unique Narrative Shawn Hot INTRODUCTION When his faculty directed him not to hire an Asian American woman' as a law professor, the law Dean resigned in protest. Professor Derrick A. Bell, Jr., then Dean of the University of Oregon Law School, quit at the end of a tumultuous two-hour faculty meeting on February 6, 1985, after his staff decided against hiring the Asian American woman a faculty position. In an interview, Bell said, "I am not charging my faculty with racism ... I just could not deal with the hypocrisy inherent in my remaining as Dean and presiding over an ever-dwindling number of minorities on law faculties." 2 Today, there remains a dearth of Asian American female law professors. By "Asian American,"' I refer to persons of Asian descent who live in the United States, regardless of citizenship status. In 2007, Asian Americans constituted five percent of the population, but less than one percent of law professors were Asian American women.4 This statistic is t The author thanks Professor Patricia Williams for her insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. The author is grateful to the Asian American female law professors, including Professors Arti K. Rai, Jeannie Suk, Lisa Ikemoto, and Margaret Chon, who generously shared their views and personal anecdotes on the dearth of Asian American female law professors. 1. She was then practicing corporate law and international law with Baker & McKenzie in San Francisco, and had degrees from Stanford and the University of Texas at Austin. 2. Pat K. Chew, Asian Americans: The 'Reticent' Minority and Their Paradoxes, 36 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1, 3 (1994). 3. Leti Volpp, Obnoxious to Their Very Nature: Asian Americans and Constitutional Citizenship, 8 ASIAN AM. L.J. 71, 72 n.l (2001). Asian Americans-encompassing more than thirty nationalities from (1) East Asia: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian; (2) South Asia: Indian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepalese, Bhutanese; and (3) South East Asia: Vietnamese, Filipino, Myanmese, East Timorese, Singaporean, Thai, Malaysian, Cambodian, Laotian, Indonesian, etc.-form a broad and diverse group. Robert S. Chang, Towardan Asian American Legal Scholarship: Critical Race Theory, Post-Structuralism, and Narrative Space, 81 CALIF. L. REV. 1243, 1245-46 n.7 (1993). The term "Asian American" "can serve as a unifying identity based on the common experiences of Asian Americans because of the inability of most non-Asian Americans to distinguish between different Asian groups." Id. 4. See ASS'N OF AM. LAW SCHOOLS, STATISTICAL REPORT ON LAW FACULTY 2007-2008 11, 16, available at http://www.aals.org/statistics/report-07-08.pdf. In 2007, out of 10,780 law professors, 157 (1.4 percent) were Asian American men while 107 (0.99 percent) were Asian American women. 57 ASIAN AMERICAN LA WJOURNAL 58 [Volume 18:57 particularly alarming when Asian Americans are the largest minority group in first-year law school admissions, consisting of about eight percent of all applicants admitted annually.' As a point for comparison, there were 10,780 full-time law school faculty members nation-wide in 2007-2008.6 At a mere one percent (compared to the 1.4 percent of Asian American male law professors), females constitute only two-fifths of all Asian American law professors.' Many scholars have written about the academic and professional achievements of Asian Americans as encapsulated by the "model minority" stereotype. In contrast, the negative effect of the stereotype's corollaries on Asian American female law professors as seen from the unique perspective of Asian American women is absent from the discourse. Providing explanations and solutions for the dearth of Asian American female law professors is important as the paucity of Asian American women in the legal academy has significant societal consequences. By serving as role models and teachers to future generations of lawyers through their academic writings and discussions, law professors are influential in both society and the legal profession. Excluding Asian American women from these roles denies them the authority of these positions' and access to the network of law professors in the legal academy. More directly, the contributions of professors to law review articles and journals often influence how judges apply and interpret the law; here, professors can voice their opinions and concerns regarding policies that have real consequences for society. Most importantly, the absence of Asian American female law professors would deny them the opportunities to voice their unique Asian American perspectives, and to impact decisions that ultimately affect themselves. 9 What are the reasons for the dearth of Asian American female law professors? One of the few senior Asian American women in this group told me in April of 2010: I certainly think you are right to ask this question. Most Asian women I talk to have experienced stereotyping. Our profession rewards intellectual audacity and verbal sparring, but this behavior is not expected from Asian women and not tolerated at the same level, so how are you supposed to 5. Lydia Lum, When Work Experience is Not Enough, DIVERSE ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION (May 14, 2009), available at http://diverseeducation.com/article/12560. 6. Id. 7. See id. This number was calculated by using data from the 2007-2008 academic year reporting a total number of 10,780 law professors. One percent (representing Asian American female law professors) of 10,780 law professors equates to approximately 40 percent of the aggregate 2.4 percent of Asian American law professors in the United States. 8. See Chew, supra note 2, at 65. 9. Id. CO-SYNTHESIS OFDYNAMICS 2011] 59 insert yourself into the conversation? 0 At first blush, it may be thought that the dearth of Asian American female law professors stems from prejudice against Asian Americans. But the problem is more capacious than that. I argue that the reasons for the dearth are complex and encompass an intriguing narrative-they are an intricate tapestry of (1) gender/sexuality, (2) race, (3) history, and (4) national origin." Fi2ure 1: Co-Synthesis of Dynamics I. GENDER/ SEXUALITY: Asian American Women are Perceived to Be Submissive IV. NATIONAL ORIGIN: Perpetual Foreigner Syndrome/ Orientalism (Asian Americans are Perceived to Be Inarticulate) I I Dearth of Asian American Female Law Professors II. RACE: Corollaries of the Model Minority Stereotype (e.g. Asian Americans are Seen as Being Not WellRounded) III. HISTORY: Immigration Pipeline Problem (Restrictions on Immigration of Asian Women) 10. E-mail (Apr 14, 2010, 16:08) (on file with author) (The professor wishes to remain anonymous.). 11. See Figure 1. 60 ASIAN AMERICAN LA WJOURNAL [Volume 18:57 This Article's framework is as follows: in Part I, I critically examine the statistical data regarding Asian American fe (...truncated)