Group works to establish Asian-American certificate

With the support of various Asian-American student organizations, faculty and alumni, a group of students is working to establish an Asian-American studies certificate program at the University.

Charles Du ’13 and Tara Ohrtman ’13 are currently spearheading an effort to raise awareness about Asian-American studies to show the administration that students are interested in related issues.

Du is also a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian

“Ultimately, the creation of a certificate program depends on the administration and faculty who are willing to commit themselves to teaching these courses consistently,” Du said. “But student support is extremely important because if there isn’t enough student interest, then there just isn’t going to be a program.”

Du and Ohrtman noted several reasons that this program would be a good idea, including the fact that Asians represent 18 percent of the student population and that students need to understand the diversity that will come with the changing demographics of the country with a growing Asian population. They also noted the perpetual “foreigner syndrome” existing among Asian Americans.

“A common thing I’ve heard when I bring the subject up is that we already have East Asian studies, and that speaks directly to this problem,” Du said, noting that people often fail to distinguish between Asian studies and Asian-American studies.

According to Asian American Students Association co-president Sarah Chen ’13, AASA became involved in this effort last spring after it sent out a survey to gauge student interest in a certificate. The organization contacted Du and Ohrtman over the summer.

Chen is also a staff writer for the ‘Prince.’

“AASA historically worked to promote Asian-American activism on campus, and in the last few years this mission was on the wayside as we focused on other things, but starting last semester we started pushing Asian-American and Pacific Islander studies again,” Chen said.

This past weekend, AASA hosted IvyCon, a weekend conference that drew Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander students from Ivy League universities to encourage a greater Asian-American identity on campus and among other Ivy League schools as well as to spark an interest in Asian-American issues.

“All the [University of California] schools, Penn, Cornell and lots of big universities have [an Asian-American] program,” AASA co-president Charles Zhang ’13 said.

The main priority right now, Ohrtman said, is to start courses that focus on Asian-American issues at the University because such courses have existed in the past but have never become firmly established in the course offerings.

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Though Du, Ohrtman and several others have met with University President Shirley Tilghman to discuss their ideas, they noted that more work needs to be done on their part to create this new program.

“The administration seems supportive but needs a definitive action plan,” Chen said.

In the meantime, Du said he is working on establishing a reading group to study Asian-American literature.

“I think it’s important because, first of all, now, especially among underclassmen, there is a great deal of interest, so we first want to create a space where we can study subjects, given that there are no courses,” he said. “Second, having this kind of group would show the University that there is a population of students who is interested in this subject, and we care enough that we’re willing to put in extra time.”

Ohrtman is working on establishing an Asian-American lecture series possibly in conjunction with the reading group that would feature both Princeton alumni and professors at other top-tier institutions.

“It’s a good way to draw attention to these issues on campus, and by showing that we can get attendance at lectures, we can show that students are interested,” she explained.

Du, Ohrtman and others have also discussed the creation of a task force to consider how best to implement the certificate program into Princeton’s curriculum. The recently created Gender and Sexuality Studies certificate program benefited from a task force that allowed the administration, alumni and students to “talk seriously about how best to implement the certificate program while getting the perspectives of all three sides,” Ohrtman said.

Ohrtman emphasized the importance of finding professors who are willing to teach Asian-American studies courses outside of their other commitments. She added that English professor Anne Cheng is working on developing curricula for a set of introductory courses to Asian-American studies that may begin next fall.

Going forward, Du, Ohrtman and members of several Asian-American groups will work toward generating support from students, faculty and alumni as well as from individuals outside of Princeton.

The Asian-American community already has a lot of support from the alumni community, which has pushed for a program in Asian-American studies in the past. In 2008, the Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton, known as A4P, launched a petition proposing permanent Asian-American courses and a certificate program.

“A4P has historically been very supportive,” Chen said. “One of AASA’s greatest resources is its alumni network.”

Numerous efforts to establish an Asian-American program have been made in the last 20 years, including a sit-in at Nassau Hall in 1995. Du noted, however, that the attempts have not really been brought up seriously in “at least a few years.”

“We’re trying to get the dialogue started again,” he said. “One problem in the past has been that pushes haven’t been sustained and maybe haven’t been serious enough, and so we’re trying hopefully to make this the last push.”

AASA treasurer Dan Chen ’14 explained that the current situation may be different from what it was five to 10 years ago because of the increasing Asian-American population on campus. Over 18 percent of the class of 2014 is Asian American.

Zhang noted that there is a wide network of students who support this new program, as evidenced by the collaboration among different groups to make it happen.

“Representation from different groups shows that our campus really wants to have these programs, and a lot of students want to study this subject,” Zhang said.