Jacob Chang is the first international student to serve as Undergraduate Student Government president. Credit: Jessica Langer | Lantern Reporter
As a student from Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Jacob Chang said he didn’t think he would be able to make a strong difference on Ohio State’s campus. He said he was unfamiliar with American customs, English was his second language and he faced anti-Asian sentiments.
Three years later, Chang is now the Undergraduate Student Government president, becoming the first international student to hold the position.
“As one of the few international students in this organization — this American-majority organization — I felt isolated, and a lot of my initiatives advocating for marginalized communities in USG suffered a lot of push backs but I never let that stop me,” Chang, a third-year in psychology and political science, said in his inaugural address Tuesday.
Chang said when preparing his campaign in February, he wanted to show other international students they can effect change on campus. The most recent election saw the most international student representation in USG history, with five international students running for Senate seats.
“This is not just for me, but it’s empowering for a lot of people who paid attention to this, and for me it means that it impacted other people to think about what they can achieve,” Chang said. “We see an increased amount of international students applying for USG in the upcoming year simply because they know that us, as students, deserve this.”
Chang said he was initially scared to introduce himself as an international student because he didn’t know how the university community would respond to him as student body president — but he learned that in order to be successful, he should be transparent.
“I think what is most important is stay true to yourself, stay authentic, do not let other people to tell you what you can achieve or who you can be,” Chang said.
Anna Valerius, USG vice president, said being part of an administration spearheaded by an international student is powerful and educational.
“I’ve learned so much about international students’ issues and just been able to figure out how to uplift them as well as figuring out how to relate the international student experience to many different student experiences because there’s so much overlap in different ways,” Valerius, a third-year in political science, said.
As an international student studying from his home in Hangzhou, China, Luke Wu, a member of the International Student Council executive board, said in an email that he has known Chang for two years and believes as president, Chang can best represent the international student voice at Ohio State.
“I think the biggest thing or the most different way for Jacob is that he himself is an international student, which means he can feel and tell international student’s experience from his own perspective,” Wu, a second-year in mathematics, said.
Wu said Chang has been a great leader during his time as chair of the International Student Council and hopes as president, he will bring awareness to international student needs. He said Chang made him feel empowered to take a bigger role on campus to help others.
Yuan Zou, the vice-chair of community relations of the International Student Council, said in an email she hopes Chang will inspire more domestic students to view international students without any discrimination or stereotypes.
Zou, a second-year in actuarial science and statistics, said Chang inspired her to take on larger roles in student government. She is now the USG senator for natural and mathematical sciences.
Chang said he has experienced racial slurs and anti-Asian sentiment on campus — people have asked him if he knows people who have spread the “China virus” and have commented on his accent. He said he wants to use his position as president to bring awareness to racism on campus and to hold the university accountable for providing accommodations and equity for international students.
“We want to challenge the work of the organization to think in the motto of our university, ‘education for citizenship,’ but also go beyond that to think in the mindset of ‘education for global citizenship’ and look at our policy initiatives, events and operations and system processes in the lens of those who are most marginalized at Ohio State,” Chang said.
Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Yuan Zou as “he” and “him.” Zou uses she/her pronouns, and the story has been updated to reflect Zou’s proper pronouns.
