The election of the first Asian-American member of the Boston City Council this month highlighted the work of a group of Tufts students in Chinatown.
Sam Yoon - a Korean immigrant who attended Princeton University and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government - was elected to one of the four councilor-at-large positions Nov. 8.
His campaign was supported by the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) - an organization that promotes education and civic involvement in Chinatown.
According to senior Natalie Solomon, a CPA intern, part of Yoon's victory can be explained by the first-time use of bilingual ballots.
Last July, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the city of Boston for violating the Voting Rights Act. A settlement in October allowed for bilingual ballots - in English and Chinese.
Because of the bilingual ballots, Solomon said, Yoon drew more voters from Chinatown. CPA members helped register voters and went door to door in Chinatown with a mock voting machine, teaching residents how to vote.
Prior to the Nov. 8 election Tufts students registered voters, and on Election Day about 20 Tufts students served as poll monitors in Chinatown precincts.
Asian Community at Tufts Secretary Ivy Cheng, a junior, said students stood outside polling stations and asked Asian-Americans if there had been any
wrongdoing during the process. "Some poll workers can be hostile and a lot of Asian-Americans have faced discrimination at the polls," she said.
Tufts students are involved in the Chinatown community in more ways than just Yoon's election.
Solomon - a University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) scholar - works mainly on tenant rights and affordable housing in Chinatown. "Boston has some of the highest affordable housing guidelines," she said.
Junior Angela Lee, also a UCCPS scholar, interned with the CPA last year. Her focus was legal services for low-income Asian-Americans, and she helped CPA and the Greater Boston Legal Service assert residents on issues including wage discrepancies, eviction notices and spousal abuse.
Another of Lee's concerns is development. "A lot of gentrification is going on and many new high rises are going up, leaving little space for affordable housing," she said. "It is no longer a neighborhood for residents but it is increasingly a place for commuters."
During her time interning for CPA, Lee helped create a neighborhood newsletter that served as a bilingual bulletin of local events and covered local issues like development and voters' rights.
Tufts students could be much more involved in Chinatown, Lee said, because the neighborhood surrounds the University's Boston campus. "Not a lot of people are aware that Tufts has a big influence in Chinatown, and that Tufts can have a greater influence considering the [Tufts-New England] Medical Center and School are there," she said.
Of the areas on which Tufts students could have the most impact - the Medford and Somerville area, the Mystic River and Chinatown - Lee said Chinatown is the most often neglected area.
"Tufts could really play a big role in the area," she said. "I don't think a lot of people know what the issues are. Besides, it is much easier and more convenient to volunteer in Medford or Somerville, even though Chinatown is only a short T ride away."
Cheng said it was difficult to get Tufts students to volunteer in Chinatown. Part of the problem, she said, is that many of the Asian students at Tufts are international students who are not aware of Asian-American issues on campus and in Chinatown.
The problems in Chinatown might not be apparent to the causal visitor. "A lot of students go to Chinatown to eat or buy cheap tourist things, so it is difficult to understand the issues just by walking down the streets," Cheng said.
Despite the progress that has been made - demonstrated by Yoon's election - Lee said there is much more that needs to be done. "They are facing huge social justice challenges in Chinatown," she said. "And those issues need to be addressed."
