But after a few months, Lai says, “I realized this system of meritocracy I believed in doesn’t work, and that we need to look at how we can change it.”

She joined the AAA, the Taiwanese Cultural Society and other ethnic and cultural initiatives, searching for answers. She also became a FUP leader, working to teach incoming first-years about the ways they could recognize and combat systemic injustice.

A Push for Diversity

Lai says that her experience as a Social Studies concentrator has forced her to think more critically about the way in which elite systems are perpetuated at Harvard.

She believes that as Harvard students we are all subtly socialized to fulfill certain privileged social roles.

“One thing that is really striking about Harvard is that a lot of people come in thinking they can do anything, so why is it we come out thinking there are only a few real options that will make us prestigious and successful,” Lai asks.

Lai believes much of this has to do with things as simple as our dining services.

“Here it is all-you-can-eat, 24 hours a day with brain break, master’s teas and free food everywhere,” she says. “I appreciate the resources, but...people get a sense of entitlement.”

“The fact that we have a formal every semester and we get so dressed up is preparing us for high society. We must realize that it’s not normal,” she says.

Lai believes that increasing the diversity of course selection at Harvard is one way that these elite systems can start to be dismantled, and thus her senior thesis explored the legitimacy of Asian American studies in higher education.

Lai says there is a common misconception that Asian American and Ethnic Studies are merely about being politically correct, and allowing minorities to “feel good” by talking about their experiences.

“Ethnic Studies is about communities exploring identity, but it is also about examining greater power narratives,” she says. “In white, elite institutions we lose awareness that so many perspectives are missing.”

Lai was a student representative on Harvard’s Committee on Ethnic Studies, and helped to launch the Asian American Studies Seminar Series that sponsored lectures by visiting professors in Asian American studies to introduce students to the subject area.

She views this as just the first step, and hopes that the momentum for more diverse courses of study will continue to build in the future.

As for her personal future plans, next year Lai will be a paralegal for the Department of Justice doing anti-trust law in San Francisco and wants to do volunteer work with Asian American immigrant groups.