GENESIS:

>> There exists a prevailing misunderstanding about Asian American students at the Claremont Colleges , or 5-Cs. The Claremont Colleges advertise themselves as unique because of their location on the border of diverse Los Angeles County , and their commitment to diversity on their campuses. However, problems such as declining Asian American enrollment, racially insensitive incidents in the classroom, and general ignorance of API (Asian Pacific Islander) issues have prompted numerous questions that need to be answered.

>>In the words of one Asian American student, Pomona College , the oldest of the Claremont Colleges, is a “West Coast school with an East Coast feel.” Our class agreed that this is a popular sentiment among Asian American students. We wanted to formally research and articulate the often uncomfortable assimilation that many Asian American students experience, but has thus far been noted only anecdotally.

>>The ASAM 101: Introduction to Asian American Studies course, Section 1, taught by Professor Kathleen Yep in the Spring of 2005, conducted a study to (1) explore the gap between the 5-Cs' public image regarding diversity and the actual experiences of Asian American students at the colleges; (2) strengthen the API community; (3) promote awareness of the issues facing API students at the 5-Cs; and (4) propose policies to improve campus climate for Asian American students at the 5-Cs.

>>This class project is significant because it brought together Asian American students from across the 5-Cs to research issues that bind us – and in the process, build 5-C Asian American community.

METHODOLOGY:

>> To gather information about the 5-C Asian American community, four groups were formed, each focusing on different areas of the project: (1) Students Publications; (2) Institutional Research; (3) Scholarly Literature; and (4) Focus Group.

(1) The Student Publications group analyzed student publications to unveil trends pertaining to how the Asian American community establishes itself and how the rest of the 5-C community chooses to accept them. Members are: Matty Wise, Yuki Lin, Elisa Mao, and Min Yoo.

(2) The Institutional Research group examined surveys conducted by the administration and students within the 5-Cs about Asian Americans or the student body in general. Members are: Michael Chen, Lisa Hahn, Francesca Ngo, and Shilen Patel.

(3) The Scholarly Literature group researched studies, reports and articles by other colleges and scholars, including articles about segmented assimilation, which are examined to see if the ideas apply to the 5-C community. Members are: Elisa Kim, Jennifer Nakamoto, Jeffrey Chow, and Sophia Cheng.

(4) Lastly, the Focus Group interviewed a select group of Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander students chosen from each of the five colleges about issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the context of a 5-C Asian American community. These results were later compared to the established literature collected by the other groups regarding the Asian American community on campus. Members are: Vincent Chen, Susette Cheng, Diana Khuu, Wendy Chu, Cynthia Ting, Meagan Tom, and Vicky Luyapan.

>> The class subsequently detected five prevailing themes—Whiteness, Diversity, Administration, Empowerment, and Education—and formulated conclusions describing how those themes affect the Asian American community. With those conclusions, our class split into three new groups – (1) Conclusions; (2) Policy; and (3) Education — to combine all the information accumulated thus far into a website.

(1) The Conclusions group researched quotes regarding each of the five conclusions that the class arrived at. They summarized the details of each topic—Whiteness, Diversity, Administration, Empowerment, and Education—using supporting quotes from the information collected by the other groups. Members are: Sophia Cheng, Wendy Chu, Yuki Lin, Vicky Luyapan, Jennifer Nakamoto, and Cynthia Ting.

(2) The Education group is in charge of educating or projecting our findings to the 5-C's, both Asian American and general community. They designed the website which incorporates the entire project along with all the research that was conducted. Members are: Michael Chen, Lisa Hahn, Francesca Ngo, Shilen Patel, and Matty Wise.

(3) The Policy group applied the research and findings to make policy recommendations that can be implemented at the Claremont Colleges. Members are: Jeffrey Chow, Diana Khuu, Elisa Kim, Meagan Tom, and Min Yoo.