Examining Professor So’s Problematic Research That Was Financed by Improperly Diverted Funds From the Proviso to OSPI

At the House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee public hearing on March 21, UW Teaching Professor Connie So claimed that she was “commissioned” by the OSPI “to assess the appropriate month to honor Chinese Americans, yes, Chinese Americans, not just Americans of Chinese descent”. She falsely projected an image of authority in her testimony. Professor So insisted that, based on her “research”, the commemorative month should be called “Chinese American Month” instead of “Americans of Chinese Descent History Month.”

OSPI is a government agency responsible for public education. One may ask why OSPI would commission Professor So to conduct research related to state legislation. In an email on March 31, OSPI denied any association or involvement with Professor So, stating that “OSPI has no record of a contract with Professor Connie So” and “OSPI did not contract Dr. So to produce any survey about finding the appropriate month for Americans of Chinese Descent History Month. Therefore, we have no knowledge of the creation of the survey, funding, or payment breakdowns.” Furthermore, on January 31, 2023, Professor So sent her “Recommendations for Chinese American Month” to Rep. Santos and other recipients, but no one from OSPI was included in the report’s distribution list, despite her claim that the research was commissioned by OSPI. Professor So clearly misrepresented herself at the public hearing.

Upon reviewing the records obtained through the Public Records Act (PRA), it becomes evident that Professor So not only misrepresented herself in front of the panel of House committee members but also improperly redirected the OSPI proviso contract funds to finance her research project without the knowledge of OSPI. Moreover, her research project contradicted the purpose of the proviso contract between OSPI and UW. The contract is “for the successful implementation and operation of a collection of materials and resources about the history of Americans of Chinese descent.” However, Professor So asserted that her research, financed by the funds she inappropriately diverted from the OSPI contract, did not support the name “Americans of Chinese descent”.

Professor So was not only dishonest in front of the state legislators but also misleading to her survey participants. In the survey she referenced during her public hearing testimony, she stated, “the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction asked Dr. Connie So, teaching professor at the University of Washington’s American Ethnic Studies Department, to evaluate whether January is the best month to honor ‘Americans of Chinese descent’ –title of the original bill”. She then deceptively added a question about the name of the month as an afterthought, despite the name already having been determined.

Professor So’s politically motivated and problematic research raises significant concerns. She selectively sent a two-question survey to a small group of 40 individuals in her close circle of friends and political allies, including 26 people involved in the email chain discussing the name and month to be included in the survey. Notably, among them were Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos and Rep. Cindy Ryu, the only two legislators who voted against the Americans of Chinese Descent History Month bill, which successfully passed both the Senate and the House this year. Only 18 out of the 40 individuals she contacted responded to her survey, which was narrowly framed and biased in design, within the period of January 25 to January 29, 2023. Apart from the issues of sampling bias and an insufficient sample size, Professor So intentionally introduced survey bias by providing pros and cons commentary alongside each survey question—an approach frowned upon as it undermines the objectivity of the survey. Additionally, on January 27, Professor So provided a narrow definition of “Americans of Chinese Descent” to the 40 survey participants, which in turn influenced their answers to the survey. It is deeply appalling to witness such politically motivated and poor-quality work coming from a professor at the University of Washington.

Below is a quick summary of Professor So’s “research” methodology:

• Research Method: Survey;
• Research Timeframe: January 25, 2023, to January 29, 2023;
• Sampling Method: Non-scientific. Professor So simply emailed 40 people in her social and political circle to solicit answers to her survey. Among them, 26 were involved in discussing the survey design themselves. Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos and Rep. Cindy Ryu were among the group of 26. Her friends and associates, some of whom are not even of Chinese descent, are not a fair representation of the Chinese descent community in Washington, which introduced sampling bias;
• Sample Size: 18 respondents. Out of the 40 people she reached out to, only 18 responded. For any quantitative research, a sample size of 18 is too small to draw any valid conclusion;
• Survey Questions: 2 questions: name of the month and which month; 
• Survey Design: Each question has multiple answer options. Instead of letting respondents simply answer the survey based on their own opinions, Professor So paid 4 consultants to write pros and cons commentaries for each answer option and accompanied each survey question with those commentaries. This introduced survey bias, as the commentaries would inevitably influence respondents’ answers. This is especially true when the consultants fail to include Senator Wagoner’s floor speech. “When Americans are attacked, Americans stick together”, Senator Wagoner said on the floor. The senator recognizes that the Chinese descent community has been facing an uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes and purposefully chose the name “Americans of Chinese Descent History Month” to emphasize that they are Americans first. 
• Other: Professor So sent out an email to the 40 survey participants, and said “I have been asked by a few people to clarify ‘Americans of Chinese Descent’ versus ‘Chinese American Month’”. So then provided her version of explanation and asserted  “Chinese did not have naturalization rights until the Magnuson Act of 1943.  Thus, the early pioneers who built the railroad were NOT Americans.  However, ‘Americans’ of Chinese descent puts the emphasis on being an American.” So’s narrow definition of “Americans of Chinese descent” scared people away from selecting that term. We later learned that people thought adopting the name “Americans of Chinese Descent History Month” would leave out the history of early Chinese immigrants, which is completely untrue. Just as The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 applies to all individuals with disabilities, regardless of their citizenship, the term “Americans” is not reserved only for US citizens;

The proviso contract between OSPI and the UW College of Arts and Sciences was not signed until March 21, 2023. However, Professor So had already promised payment to her consultants for her research project, which was outside the scope of the contract and without the knowledge of OSPI, back in January. On January 14th, she wrote to her consultants: “To make sure that an ‘appropriate’ month is chosen, OSPI has given the department of American Ethnic Studies some funds to find researchers to determine what month would work best. Since the money is going to AES, of course I will be one of the researchers because of the obvious conflict of interest … OSPI, through AES, will pay you (or a group that you designate) money for the research. ” It is evident that Professor So also violated the clause in the OSPI contract that specifically states,”Neither CAS nor any subcontractor shall enter into subcontracts for any of the work contemplated under this Contract without obtaining prior written approval of OSPI.”

Timeline of evidence:

• 2022 – A $25,000 proviso to the OSPI “solely for the office to create and distribute promotional and educational materials to school districts for Americans of Chinese descent history month” was written in the 2022 Supplementary Budget. Despite the legislature’s failure to establish the Americans of Chinese descent history month that year, the proviso passed;
• May 17, 2022 – Senator Keith Wagoner and Senator Christine Rolfes sent a letter to OSPI to clarify how the funding should be used. In the letter, the two senators state: “The budget proviso was included to provide OSPI the tools needed to provide educational and promotional materials, e.g., posters or flyers celebrating the unique history and contributions of these Americans”, and “…emphasize the fact that these materials specifically state Americans of Chinese Descent and not Chinese-Americans.”;
• November 9, 2022 – The dean of the UW College of Education, Mia Tuan, sent out an email and stated, “I spoke with Rep. Tomiko Santos today to make sure I understood her wishes. Based on that conversation, here’s what my Assistant Dean for Finance (Santhi) and I suggest: -it doesn’t make sense to involve the College of Education in this transaction. Santhi will follow up with Jenny to introduce her to Santhi’s counterpart in the college of Arts & Sciences (the academic home for Asian American Studies). This is a cleaner and simpler process than having funds pass through our college.”
• December 22, 2022 – In response to OSPI’s follow up email on the contract, Santhi Perumal, the Assistant Dean of the UW College of Education, said, “There has been some change of plans and so I am introducing my colleague over at the College of Arts and Science, Linda Nelson (copied on the email), who will be taking over this.” Linda Nelson, the Associate Dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences, emailed OSPI: “I understand that the work outlined in this contract will be completed by Professor Connie So who is a member of the Department of American Ethnic Studies within the College of Arts & Sciences.“;
• January 11, 2023 – Associate Dean Nelson, sent Professor So an email with the subject line “FW: Americans of Chinese Descent Contract Intake for OSPI”, and stated, “My contacts from OSPI are asking about the status of our contract review?” According to the Purpose of the Agreement section, the contract is “for the successful implementation and operation of a collection of materials and resources about the history of Americans of Chinese descent.“;

• January 14, 2023 –  Professor So sent an email to four people who she later hired as consultants for her research project and said, “To make sure that an ‘appropriate’ month is chosen, OSPI has given the department of American Ethnic Studies some funds to find researchers to determine what month would work best. Since the money is going to AES, of course I will be one of the researchers because of the obvious conflict of interest. But I am hoping that the four of you, all with tremendous Chinese American historical credibility, might come up with at least 1-2 months that make sense. OSPI, through AES, will pay you (or a group that you designate) money for the research. ” In the same email, she also revealed Rep. Santos’ association with her research, stating, “Sharon Tomiko Santos is sponsoring a bill to create a Chinese American History/Heritage Month…. The deadline for this bill’s passage is February, so we should try to find a month by the end of January.”;

• January 15, 2023 – Professor So sent another email to the four consultants and stated, “I think the amount of research money I can distribute will be around $1000-$3000. I will know more this coming week.”;
• January 18, 2023 – Professor So told her consultants in an email, “My meeting with UW budgeting and OSPI is next Tuesday”,  which was January 24, 2023;

• January 23, 2023 – In an email to the OSPI, Associate Dean Nelson stated, “I’m meeting with Professor So on tomorrow”, which was January 24, 2023;

• January 31, 2023 – Prof. Connie So sent her “Recommendations for Chinese American Month” to Rep. Santos and other recipients, but no one from OSPI was included in the report’s distribution list, despite her claim that the research was commissioned by OSPI. In the background section of her recommendation, she states: “On January 11, 2023, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) asked Dr. Connie So, teaching professor at the University of Washington’s American Ethnic Studies Department, to evaluate whether January is the best month to honor ‘Americans of Chinese Descent’ –the title of the original bill. … Dr. So created a survey to obtain additional perspectives on the title of the month, and whether January or another month would be the best choice to honor ‘Americans of Chinese Descent’/’Chinese Americans’”;
• March 21, 2023 – Professor So told the panel of House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee members that “In January, OSPI has commissioned me to assess the appropriate month to honor Chinese Americans, yes, Chinese Americans, not just Americans of Chinese descent”. So claimed that “Americans of Chinese descent” is the wrong term to use, and insisted that based on her “research”, the commemorative month should be called “Chinese American Month” instead of “Americans of Chinese Descent History Month”;
• March 21, 2023 – The contract between OSPI and the UW College of Arts and Sciences was signed. In the OSPI contract, it specifically states,”Neither CAS nor any subcontractor shall enter into subcontracts for any of the work contemplated under this Contract without obtaining prior written approval of OSPI.”;
• March 31, 2023 – In their email to WA Asians For Equality, OSPI denied any association or involvement with Professor So’s project, stating that “OSPI has no record of a contract with Professor Connie So” and “OSPI did not contract Dr. So to produce any survey about finding the appropriate month for Americans of Chinese Descent History Month. Therefore, we have no knowledge of the creation of the survey, funding, or payment breakdowns.”;