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Dr. Robert Teranishi
For instance, in April 2024, the initiative hosted the first-ever Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Higher Education Leadership Development Summit. The summit – which drew faculty, staff and students from around the world – took place at the University of California, Berkeley. A year prior, Berkeley had been awarded its first federal grant as an AANAPISI – or Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions.
Under Trump 2.0, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders – also known as WHIAANHPI – is no more. It became one of the many casualties of the Trump administration’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or DEI.
Scholars say the dissolution of WHIAANHIP is more than symbolic – that it will lead to diminished resources and attention for various issues and challenges that confront students from the demographic the initiative was meant to serve.
“It is significant anytime there is an executive order that is specifically inclusive of the AANHPI population simply because it does not happen very often,” says Dr. Robert Teranishi, the Helen Chu Endowed Chair in Asian American Studies, and a professor of social science and comparative education at UCLA.
“I’m old enough to remember when it started,” says Dr. Julie J. Park, professor of education at the University of Maryland, College Park, in reference to when President Bill Clinton first established the initiative in 1999.
“I think the decision to dissolve it – unfortunately in this administration it’s not totally surprising since they’ve cut so many other things – but it’s really disappointing,” Park says. “I think we’ll have widespread consequences for the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.” Park listed issues such as poverty, census counting and mental health in the aforementioned communities that she says will now get less attention since the White House initiative disbanded.
