President Wintersteen addresses hate crimes against the Asian American community
Wendy Wintersteen addressed the controversy over changing the name of Catt Hall on August 16 outside of her home.
March 18, 2021
Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen released a statement condemning violence taken against members of the Asian and Asian American community.
Her response comes after the murder of six Asian American women in Atlanta. Stop AAPI Hate reported 3,795 incidents in the past year. That is only a fraction of how many hate crimes occur, according to the report.
“Each time we sit down to compose our thoughts regarding acts of violence, xenophobia, racism and bigotry, our frustration grows,” Wintersteen’s email read. “We are horrified and angered by the recent series of attacks against members of the Asian and Asian American communities. Iowa State University condemns these and all acts of violence, xenophobia, racism and bigotry.”
The AAPI also found national trends that hate incidents are 2.3 times more common for women in the Asian American/Pacific Islander community compared to men, and of those attacks, 12.6 percent of the victims are under the age of 17.
These racially charged hate incidents have only grown since the pandemic. Pew Research found that 31 percent of Asian adults said they have been subjected to slurs or jokes because of their race or ethnicity since the pandemic began. The study also found 58 percent of Asian adults say it is more common for people to express racially insensitive views about people in the Asian community than before.
Wintersteen acknowledges that for those who aren’t in the Asian community, it is easy to ignore the violence. Iowa State remains a predominantly white institution, with 2.63 percent of the population from the Asian community.
“We care deeply about how violence targeting Asians and Asian Americans impacts the ISU community, including our students, faculty and staff who are part of the Asian and Asian American communities,” Wintersteen said. “Everyone should be able to pursue their life goals without fear of being targeted.”
Iowa State also provides a Campus Climate website where students and faculty can report campus climate incidents and find information regarding incidents on campus.
