Empowerment |
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>> Asian American mentor programs and resource centers like AASU, AAMP, AASP, APAM and AARC, CAPAS, and I-Place continue to be places that empower young Asian American adults at the Claremont Colleges. Respectively: Asian American Student Union; Asian American Mentor Program; Asian American Sponsor Program; Asian Pacific American Mentors; Asian American Resource Center; Center for Asian Pacific American Students and International Place . During times of marginalization and discrimination, students use such programs and resources to feel safe, cohesive, and supportive of others who may feel uncomfortable in a dominantly white environment. These institutions also serve social purposes, like hosting cultural activities, events, and discussions which may help alleviate stressful academic situations while enabling students to learn from one another’s similarities and differences. Finally, these programs and centers also provide educational programming.
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>> A growing controversy among the 5C Asian American community is the establishment of a collective 5C community center. Some argue that such a haven will promote awareness and better communication among 5C Asian Americans. Others feel that individual empowerment characterizes a more “natural flow,” and that finding one’s own niche and support group is powerful enough. The following methods are what students currently rely on to empower themselves both individually, and collectively:
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>> Student publications like Voices of the Margin, The Student Life, and Unbound are other outlets for students to publicly express themselves. Not only do they use such a medium to display their Asian Americans experiences, but they are also able to empower other readers—specifically, those in their communities. For example, a student in Voices of the Margin stated that
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“Asian Americans may distance [themselves] from the many problems that affect [their] community…When and what will it take to finally get ourselves mobilized and active?” |
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>> In an attempt to rattle the Asian American community about the recent hate incidents at the Claremont Colleges, this student also attempts to empower readers by telling them to take a stance, and that there are others who feel the urgency to do something about such negativity. According to Institutional Research and the official and scanty “campus climate” surveys they dissected, many Asian American/API students are unsatisfied with the environment and culture their colleges provide. Students feel that the administrations of their respective schools are not supportive of student needs. Rather, pressure is placed on the student body to take their own initiative to empower one another, to promote diversity—when in fact they seek help as a marginalized minority.
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>> Much empowerment for Asian American Students also comes from their professors. In the spring of 2004, a petition was created by students at Pomona College addressing the fact that more tenure track positions for ethnic studies, woman’s studies, and queer studies were necessary. There were no further inquiries on this issue, and it is not known as to how the administration reacted.
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>> In a random selection of students at the Claremont Colleges, a designated “focus group” precisely facilitated an interview-discussion. Many of these Asian American students spoke on the issue of students only feeling comfortable among others who share similar identity and culture: others who may have experienced similar discriminations in the past. Catherine from Claremont McKenna College mentioned,
“I guess, my interests and [my] cultural background with some people who are Asian [allow me to] discuss similar values.”--Catherine
One can infer that Catherine feels comfortable discussing Asian and Asian American issues only within the Asian American community, and that it has no purpose and meaning elsewhere. Empowerment comes from within, not foreign.
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Another student, Young Mi from Pomona College, argues that it is not a choice to bond with and discuss racial dialogue with other Asians, but that it happens naturally. When she says,
“It wasn’t a conscious choice for me to just find these Asian friends. I just needed that kind of thing and people who could understand me better.”--Young Mi
Young Mi feels that without a proper support/trust system, she is not understood. But the fact that she often times associates with other Asians is not because of race, but it is purely based on common interests and backgrounds.
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Judging from the above student testaments, one can infer that students are constantly searching for individual ways of being empowered. But the main question lies within our consortium.
The administration does not involve itself in student’s individual empowerment, so students are forced to find their own comfort zones among other Asian/minority friends, in student organizations, diversity groups, and with other marginalized peoples. Dustin from Pitzer asserts that
“It’s much easier for me to talk to other minorities because we’re all minorities who are all oppressed… I can go there and not feel oppressed and objectified. I guess it’s much easier.”--Dustin
Such testament illustrates how minority races naturally feel connected. So in a way, it may be that a stronger sense of community empowerment is unnecessary. Since students naturally cling to others who share common interests, or those they feel comfortable with, a community that enforces such camaraderie (i.e. a 5C resource center) may have no use here. With the responsibility for each student to find his/her own niche, many unique forms of empowerment and inspiration continue to arise at the five Claremont Colleges. |
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