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hen Medill second-year Kederang Ueda walked up to the Asian American Student Journalists table at the Fall 2023 Student Organization Fair, he could tell the students working the table weren’t quite sure why he was there. Half Palauan and half Japanese, Ueda has dark features, chestnut brown skin and slightly wavy black hair. He says the students’ apprehension is something he’s experienced many times before. “No shade against those people, because it’s just natural. I don’t look like anybody that typically identifies as Asian American Pacific Islander,” Ueda says. “But I think that’s a part of the work that needs to be done in expanding that term.” Organizations using terms like AAPI and AANHPI vary widely in how much they actually represent their non-Asian American constituents. While pan-ethnic terms can help people identify with something bigger than themselves, some Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students say these terms obscure the uniqueness of their cultures and lived experiences. Instead, they suggest using specificity in language to let individual cultures shine. Ultimately, determining where coalitionbuilding efforts should give way to the recognition of individual ethnicities can be less like drawing a line and more like painting a gradient.