Grievances
(a.k.a. whining)

Why does it cost $97 to get a passport?

Why do I have to turn in my (original!) naturalization certificate to get a passport?

Why does it cost $15 at the post office to get the ugliest passport photos on earth (and possibly several other planets)?

What are the chances I'll get the new passport before I leave for New York? (because if I don't, it'll take another 2 weeks for the post to forward my mail)

Why the hell did I lose my passport in the first place? (along with my Social Security card, list of vaccinations, and an extremely cute passport holder)

Why am I inside a library on a beautiful if slightly muggy spring day, wearing two sweaters because the air conditioning is just that intense? (I mean, SERIOUSLY, people. Turn the air down. It's not like we have a Gutenberg in here.)

Why does spring come just when we have to start studying for finals?

Why does TurboTax do the federal taxes for free but charge twenty bucks for state taxes?

Why do I have taxes, my clinical rounds memo, and a revised prospectus all due on Monday?
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An Actual Grievance: The Race Card

I found myself voting along racial lines two days ago. It was for nothing serious -- some 3L class position, whose major role appears to be planning parties for the third years. I received two lobbying emails from the leaders of two Asian American groups on campus, asking recipients to think about voting for Parkimlee, the only Asian American running for this position.

And you know? That's what I did. There are four positions, and I knew three candidates, all of whom I thought were fine for the role, and though I barely know Parkimlee, I voted for her too, because she's Asian. (She won.)

This is the second time in as many months that I've done this; last month, a somewhat prestigious public interest award committee was taking votes for recipients, and I knew two out of the three candidates. They happened to be married to each other, and I've had dinner with them, and they're both dedicated, thoughtful people who equally deserved to win. Between the two, I voted for the Asian American. Because he's Asian American. (He didn't win; neither did she.)

I was thinking about this, and I feel fine about it. And then I started thinking about other things, and feeling not so fine about those things. Here's the dilly: According to US News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools 2006, Crimson Law School was (as of last year): 12 percent of the student population is Asian American. Ten percent of the student body is African-American.

Of the 80 total tenured and untenured faculty, there are 5 tenured African American professors (four men, one woman). There is one (South) Asian American tenured (male) professor.

In 2004-05, the Crimson Law Review's board of editors was: 75% White, 10% East Asian, 7% South Asian, 7% black. (Not to mention: 73% Male; 27% Female, which is of itself alarming.)

The U.S. population as a whole? In 2004, the Census Bureau estimated that 3.8 percent of the nation's population was Asian American. African Americans made up 12.7 percent.

How do all these numbers add up? African American representation in the law school is slightly lower than in the general population. African American representation among faculty here is slightly higher than the general population. Asian American representation in the law school is roughly 3 times its presence in the general population. Yet less than 1% of faculty are Asian American.

There is something wrong about this.

(to be continued)