Getting to know your future president: Peter Huang

We’ll just say what everyone else is thinking: no one really cares about the YCC candidates’ campaigns. Sure, those empty promises might convince a handful of voters, but the rest of us choose our president based off of them as actual people, not as PC robots.

You might know him from his work with the Asian American Student Alliance, as the conference chair of Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund, or from his enthusiastic presence in Silliman courtyard where he often plays volleyball, but do you really know this Silliman sophomore?  In the second part of our presidential candidate series, this is The Tab Talk with Peter Huang:

What do you do at Yale?

I’m the intercultural liaison for the Asian American Student Alliance. It’s under the guise of the Asian American Cultural center. But my role is basically connecting with other cultural groups and the other cultural centers, and improving communication between them because there are a lot of events that are relevant to other groups. Students sometimes don’t hear about these events because of a lack of communication. I’m definitely trying to improve channels to make sure students can go to a variety events and make intercultural connections.

I’m also a part of the Asian American Studies Task Force, which is looking at the feasibility of creating a major. It’s given me direct experience with understanding the intricacies and challenges of trying to incorporate a new major. There are a lot of different moving parts, and it’s definitely not something that can be done in a year.

I’m also a part of Dwight Hall Socially Responsible Investment Fund; I’m the conference chair, so I reach out to speakers for our conference and coordinate basically everything for the conference. I try to promote conversation on what exactly socially responsible investment is. I think it’s super relevant because a lot of Yale students are hesitant to go into finance because there’s a sense that it’s immoral. But there’s definitely a socially responsible side to finance.

I am also very active within the Silliman community. One of my favorite things is how the residential college community connects people across different grades within the college.

Describe your ideal night at Yale.

Probably if I could meet new people and strike up conversations with them in a dining hall or Bass café. Just learning about the other person. At the end of the day, Yale is composed of amazing professors, a gigantic endowment and amazing resources, but what makes Yale Yale is the students. Especially as an undergraduate.

Favorite residential dining hall?

Obviously Silliman. I benefit a lot from living right there. Especially compared to Saybrook or Branford.

If you weren’t in Silliman what college would you want to be in?

I would probably be in Saybrook because I wouldn’t be encouraged to stay in Saybrook, and it would force me to meet people outside my college.

Favorite pizza place?

I don’t go there very often because it’s expensive, but Kitchen Zinc.

Where’s your favorite place to cry on campus?

Probably in front of my computer when I Skype my parents and tell them about what’s going wrong in my life. I sometimes don’t even care if my roommates are there because they’re very understanding.

What’s going wrong in your life?

Not much. I think every student experiences this. In high school, we don’t necessarily think we’re the shit, but when we try hard things come our way. Maybe that’s for some more than others—I come from a very privileged background and went to a very good public high school. For me, I had a lot of amazing teachers and supportive parents, but coming to college I was detached from that whole support system. I tried hard, but didn’t get the results I wanted. That was very discomforting, but it was also tempering the steel. I think it made me learn to deal with stress. I now handle things going wrong better, and I understand that things aren’t always going to go right. I just need to make sure I keep going forward with academics, and extracurriculars.

Blue State or Starbucks?

I don’t really drink coffee, it depends on who I am meeting with. I meet in whichever one is closer to the other person. It makes it easier to meet with people.

Tomatillo or Salsa Fresca?

I’ve never eaten at Salsa Fresca, but I eat at Tomatillo quite often.

What’s your 2am GHeav order?

I really like to keep things simple, and I’m always on a tight budget so the double egg sandwich with mayo and ketchup because the mayo and ketchup are free. So if you just lather, it’s not very healthy but your stomach feels full.

On a Wednesday night, where can we find you? Woads?

I’m in Bass café quite often on Wednesday. The dance club isn’t really my scene. Although one of my favorite activities is observing drunk people while I’m sober. You really see all the different types of drunks. Being able to observe that when sober is pretty fun in itself.

Where’s your favorite place to observe drunk people?

The Blue State on York. Sometimes you have Quinnipiac students come in quite drunk and ask for the bathroom key. When they’re told they need to order a coffee, they throw a small tantrum and march out. They always come in droves, they march in a huge group. They come in and are like “WE NEED THE BATHROOM”, and the staff has to have a very serious conversation and say “no you can’t.”

If you had to get a tattoo, what would you get and where?

I would get it on my arm and probably just a favorite quote. I can’t think of one right now, but nothing too long. Definitely not someone’s name, because it’s always awkward when that person’s relationship goes south.

What’s your most important relationship at Yale?

I can’t really think of just one. I think I’ve been able to form many strong bonds with many great people. I try to interact with a lot of people, know where they’re coming from and what their concerns are. Yale is small enough of a college where you can form solid relationships with many different people. It’s my way to learn from people.

Favorite and least favorite part of Yale?

The people, definitely. It’s always exciting when a new class comes in and we get the opportunity to meet them.

My least favorite is that I think a lot of times when things happen on campus that affect a specific group of people, like what happened last semester, my least favorite part was when students didn’t make an effort to see where people were coming from and just made judgments that those students were overreacting or were wrong. I do think students here should make more of an effort to put aside their reservations and go up to someone they know personally and just ask them to give them their perspective.

What was the last thing you Googled?

It was a specific department at Yale because as you know, every YCC presidential candidate is trying to understand the issues as well as they can so they don’t have give ignorant solutions to problems on campus. So I was looking up the Yale Resources Office on Disabilities.

What’s your deepest secret?

I wouldn’t really call this a secret, but when I was really, really small I had an ambition to become an origami artist. I was originally afraid to tell my parents, but when I did, my parents, they were like “No, you can’t be an origami artist.” So I Googled it and showed them these people actually exist. I’ve always wanted to be an artist, although I’m not very artistic at all.

I guess my deepest, darkest secret is that I want to engage in things I have no experience in just to see what’s up. I don’t think that’s the safest thing or the most realistic thing either.

What’s your craziest Yale memory?

I’m a pretty low-key dude. This isn’t super crazy, but I was super happy when I discovered it. When you go into the Silliman library and walk to the right and open the window, you can crawl onto this balcony that overlooks Grove Street. It’s a very niche space of rest. I don’t go out there often, but it’s really beautiful. There’s a sloped roof you can lie on and look at the sky. It’s a very quiet space, and I guess it’s crazy in the relaxing sense. Definitely serendipitous that I found it.

What’s your current phone background?

It’s a stock photo of a red powder and blue powder from a color run coming together and bursting upwards. I don’t like my eyes to be overly stimulated, and I don’t like aggressive backgrounds that make the icons hard to find.

Favorite place to study?

I alternate between my bed and Bass Café.

What’s your dream job?

If I didn’t have to worry about money, resources or raising a family, my dream job would be teaching elementary school students. I would try to reform the education system to make sure that every student could follow his or her passions and academic interests and grant them access to resources. There’s huge academic inequality, especially in urban areas.

Patagonia or North Face?

I don’t have either one, but I’d go with North Face because it seems a little less bougie.

Why should you be our next president?

I have a slightly different perspective than some candidates in terms of how student governments function. I think student government should not only listen to student groups, but work with them on initiatives and policy projects that we’re engaging in.

An example is the LGBTQ task force, where YCC sat down and worked with people from the LGBTQ co-op. I want to spread the [task force] structure across all student government. Right now it’s one person, one project. So there’s 30 going at once. But I want to see groups of people, like two or three representatives working hand-in-hand with student groups on campus. For example, I want to continue the work with the LGBTQ co-op and resource office. It’s important to engage with them and create things like competency classes.

This idea may exist in other people’s platform, but I’m separate from other candidates because in regards to social, economic, and racial diversity, I’ve had the chances to interact directly in those scenes. I’m on financial aid, I work on campus, but I’m lucky enough to have enough outside scholarships and support where my need to work doesn’t interfere too much with my Yale experience. But I have friends who work 15 hours a week to try and meet their student income contribution and send money home as well. I’ve had the opportunity to hear many stories and see what’s happening on the ground as a part of that community.

I’ve also engaged directly with is the idea of racial diversity. I’ve already talked about my work with the Asian American Student Alliance. Just engaging in those conversations, I have learned the intricacies and understood the nuances of these conversations of why people of color feel so marginalized on campus. In order to engage in these issues, I think Yale needs a candidate who has worked with these issues before and has connections with the cultural centers. Even with faculty diversity, that’s something the Asian American Task Force has dealt. I’ve had conversation with faculty and know how hard it is to accomplish this and what we can expect. I can hit the ground running on these issues because I’ve had the opportunity to engage in these conversations more than any other candidate.

Why he’s convinced The Tab:

Peter clearly takes student government seriously and wants to get as many undergraduates involved in YCC projects as he can. He has experience with tackling racial diversity and inclusion on campus, which may give him an edge over other candidates. But what really won us over was that he made a jab at QPac. Any candidate willing to do that is worthy of serious consideration for our vote.

Check out Peter’s campaign video here.