February 10, 1993

Shattering the "Model Minority" Myth

Activists work to end the myth of a `model minority' that needs no affirmative action

By Denise K. Magner

Almost a quarter of the undergraduates at Stanford University are Asian American, yet Q. Cindy Nguyen and Julius Paras say few students on the campus share their Asian heritage.

Ms. Nguyen is Vietnamese American and Mr. Paras is Filipino American. When Stanford goes searching for minority students, they say, it doesn't seek out people like them. Stanford takes special steps to recruit black, Hispanic, and American Indian students because it views them as underrepresented on the campus