| Research |
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Sources Used:
1. Voices From The Margin, CAPAS (Center for Asian Pacific American Students) Publication
2. Unbound, Scripps AASU (Asian American Student Union) Publication
3. AAMPlified, Pomona AAMP (Asian American Mentor Program) Publication
4. The Student Life, 5-C student publication
5. 5-C AASC ( Asian American Student Center) Proposal
Matty Wise’s Annotated Bibliography:
>> I obtained a list of all the Asian Americans at Pitzer College, and collected Voices From The Margin articles. CAPAS was the source of this information. Also acquired information from AASP (Asian American Sponsor Program). The CAPAS website also has the mission statement for both AASP and CAPAS. Tried to get info on student climate report, but never was able to follow through on it.
Elisa’s Annotated Bibliography:
>> I was in charge of looking up the alumni lists. I went to the Alumni Relations office and explained what our research project is about. Todd Sakamoto was the one who I talked with. He wouldn’t give me the alumni list because of privacy issues. He said he would contact Professor Yep to know more about the research project and what we want to use the alumni list for.
Yuki and Eric’s Annotated Bibliography:
>> Various copies (4 different ones) of the Unbound student publication by the Asian American Student Union at Scripps College (AASU) can be found at the Asian American Resource Center (AARC) located in the Smith Campus Center of Pomona College.
- Volume 2, Issue 1-Fall Edition 2001 (dates are questionable, as they are not labeled with any dates)
- Volume 1, Issue 2- Spring Edition 2001
- Volume 2, Issue 2-Spring Edition 2001
- Volume 4, Issue 1-Fall Edition 2004
Contact Information for the source of the material:
Darren Mooko @ AARC
Mana Hayakawa @ AARC (909) 438-7366
Status of the Material:
-Printed and archived- can be photocopied and read, but not taken out of AARC (library/archival material)
-There is an archive drawer full of many other student publications from Pomona College and other Asian American student organizations at the 5C’s for easy reference.
Notes of Sources:
Unbound Articles:
1. “Unbound”: bi-semester student publication addressing daily happenings and concerns of the Asian American community
2. Multi-Racial Identity: too many “Twinkies” that have yellow skin, “white behavior.” (Volume 1, Issue 2)
3. Class and Financial Circumstances/ Financial Aid: the stereotype that all Asians are hardworking, and thus wealthy. (Volume 1, Issue 2)
4. Cultural Misrepresentation/Lack of “Asian-ness” at the 5C’s (Volume 1, Issue 2)
>> Lack of Real Asian Food=lack of Asian Culture
>> Not enough classes on race. “It’s depressing.”
>> Tough transition to college àLocal/Global
5. Sexuality/being queer as an Asian American-double minority. (Volume 1, Issue 2)
6. Stereotypes: “model minority” (Volume 4, Issue 1)
7. Asians in the American Political Sphere(Volume 4, Issue 1):
>> The Census= door to political power as well as oppression.
>> Voting= Asians are no longer the “model minority” in this realm
8. Hate crimes at 5C’s (Volume 4, Issue 1)
>> How were Asians affected by these events? What were their responses?
9. Benefits of AASU mentor program: (Volume 4, Issue 1)
>> If it weren’t for AASU,
-Asian students would feel isolated and have nothing to rely upon.
-Supportive community like AASU is crucial in the transition stages for Asian Americans at Scripps.
10. wHOSE vOICE wHOSE vISION talk (Volume 1, Issue 1)
>> This article talked about the Scripps administration. Whose Voice Whose Vision was a forum held by certain members of the student body. It was a forum addressing certain administrative moves in regards to marginalized groups on campus. Some of the things questioned were why AASU’s physical space was combined with many other minorities physical spaces creating one multicultural center which was unfavorable. The forum also was asking whether the administration was really listening to the student body’s voices, or listening to their own self interests.
11. A lesson on AASU’s history can be a lesson for all of us (Volume 1, Issue 1)
>> This article was an extension of the Whose Voice Whose Vision article. It was essentially saying that other groups should be aware of what’s happening, that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. The article also was commenting on the backwards progression of diversity on campus.
12. Myths of Self Exclusion (Volume 1, Issue 1)
>> This article was trying to explain the myths of self exclusion by Asian Americans. It was an individual experience of an Asian American who didn’t like it when others asked her why she hung out with so many Asians.
13. Arts and politics (Volume 2, Issue 1)
>> An article discussing some Asian American seniors who were majoring in art. The article was focused on the senior art projects they did and how their projects related to their own Asian American issues they have dealt with. One of the projects a senior did was make their own depictions of Asian Americans in attempt to destroy the popular images in the media.
14. ASAM 197 (Volume 2, Issue 1)
>> An article describing ASAM 197, a class that is student run. It talked about how the class is supposed to engage the students on topics that they are interested in, and that students choose. It also talked about how the class was helpful in constructing or understanding one’s own identity.
15. 5 –C AASC (Volume 2, Issue 1)
>> An article discussing the importance of a 5-C Asian American Student Center.
16. General Comments About Society (Volume 2, Issue 1)
>> Abercrombie and Fitch scandal
>> This was an article of an outraged student. She was angry with how a huge corporation as Abercrombie and Fitch could put racist images of Asians on their apparel.
The Student Life Articles:
1. “The Student Life”: The oldest college newspaper in Southern California since 1889
>> (this newspaper addresses the concerns and expressions of the entire student body and student life in general, and thus has limited discussion of issues regarding Asian American identity.)
>> All of the following titled articles can be found at the AARC, in photocopied format from the internet-therefore, we did not list dates of the issues (i.e. one can find the articles according to their titles) Also, these articles/events were recurring throughout specific years, so we listed the span of the year the articles were published:
2. Ken Hsin, Karin Mak, Susan Yoon – “AAMP Defends Close-Knit Community” (2001-2002)
3. Response to “Students Should be Aware of Racial Cliques on Campus” by Justin Durivage
4. Lydia Lucas – “ Mentor Programs Atone For Lack of Diversity” (2001-2002)
Defense of mentor programs based on own experiences at Pomona
4. Conor Friedersdorf - “Diversity Includes More than Race” (2002-2003)
5. Kristine Yen – “ ‘Model Minority’ Myth Sets Unfair Expectations” (2002-2003)
6. AAMP’s editorial response to Jeff Lin (2003-2004)
7. Installation of Asian American Studies and support by different groups (1997-1998)
>> These articles talked about the importance of Asian American Studies. They were editorials by many different organizations that were talking about the need for these classes.
8. CAMP – Caucasian American Mentor Program (a parody of the AAMP Program) (1997-1998)
>> This was an article that was made in jest of the Asian American Mentor Program. It was basically talking about the need for a Caucasian American Mentor Program. One of the excerpts from it was:
“Rather than forcing the students to interact with members of other races, we feel that it would be more beneficial if they were allowed to stay within the framework of their childhood/teen years, sheltered in a familiar world of Caucasian Americans.”
>> There were many follow up editorials condemning the article and the editors of The Student Life for printing such a thing.
>> Justifications for printing CAMP Article by the editor:
“Offensiveness is relative to the reader. Whereas Dan Tzuang was mortified by its publication, many Pomona students found the piece humorous, thoughtful, and wholly consonant with their views… For us to kill it when it represents the opinions if many – if not most – Pomona students is downright absurd.”
>> Response from one student:
“I don’t know which majority you’ve been talking to but most of the students I know find it downright infuriating and hardly found my comment “obscure”. And since when has the “majority” been the bastion of justice. A majority of the US supported the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. A majority have voted for Prop. 197 but that doesn’t mean it was any less xenophobic and didn’t protect most of it from being unconsitutional.”
>> In the end, there seemed to be a split between people feeling that it was alright and others feeling it was offensive. There was no resolution.
9. Focus on Diversity Fragments Student Body (1997-1998)
>> Another string of editorials came about after someone commented that she believed that the Pomona was like a playground of people getting along before going to the college, and then once getting to the college she felt that minorities were creating rifts in the community. People criticized her for being naïve.
10. Hunt Sees Egg Donor Ad as Racist (1997-1998)
>> This article was printed which was an advertisement asking for a 5’10 160 pound, blonde haired, blue eyed Caucasian male to donate their sperm. It was seen as racist because it was defining what was seen as the proper or acceptable being, basically saying that to be the perfect person you need to fit that description undermining all other races.
- The Importance of AAMP(1998-1999):
learning about oneself,
exploring you own ethnic identity.
Understanding what it really
means to be Asian American in “White America.”
College is a time for many to discover who they really are, and what they are made of-AAMP facilitates this learning/growing process.
Haven from discrimination and hate crimes which isolate students of color.
-Karen Chen ’99 April 1999
11. Hardships of AAMP (1998-1999):
1. Promoting AAMP
2. Making statements on college campus as a minority group.
3. Accused of undermining diversity through the exclusivity of “Only Asians allowed” mentality, which is false.
12. MSAP Weekends (1999-2000):
>> Minority Student Action Program hosts weekend tours/stays for Black/Latino minority students and Asians of low-income families only.
>> Underrepresented groups of Asian Americans are minorities as well. Not all Asians are Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or Vietnamese. Thus, other Asian groups should be treated as equally as those sponsored by the MSAP weekends.
>> After inclusion of Asian Americans in MSAP weekend events, MSAP student interns were outraged and sent complaints to admissions office. Admission supports MSAP by stating that inclusion of Asian Americans would “jeopardize existing program” by limiting opportunities for others in more need.
>> MSAP denies any mentioning of the above, while the Dean of admissions stated that the college is not trying to create any rifts between minorities, and between students.
“All Asian American students should be invited to the weekends regardless of socioeconomic status because class is not a proxy for race.”-Linda Hahn ‘05
13. The 5-C AASC Proposal of 2002 and its rejection by the Presidents can be found on the following website, established by 5C Asian American Students:
www.geocities.com/aascnow/index.html
>> This was the proposal asking for a 5-C AASC. It gave its justifications and tried to explain through their rationale that while Asian Americans are different than other minorities they still had their needs. The presidents response to it was that basically Asian Americans were alright; their justification for rejecting a 5-C AASC was basically prescribing to the Model Minority Myth.
14. Creation of Petition (Spring, 2004) Jacqueline Wong (an alumni of Pomona College) was the last person known to have a hard-copy of the petition.
>> It was a petition that stated that their needed to be a move for more dedicated tenure track positions for ethnic studies and woman studies. It also was demanding the creation of a Queer studies program. This was created after the hate crimes of 2004 in the Asian American Anger English class. Unfortunately, there is no hardcopy that can be obtained, I think the only one that has it is a student that was a senior last year, and then the presidents. There was no formal response from any of them except the Pomona president.
15. Voices From the Margin
>> This is CAPAS’s student publication. The student publication was created in December of 2002, the first year that CAPAS was created. The intention of the student publication was to create a space for the viewpoints that are usually silenced. “Although Asian/ Pacific Islander American students are the biggest minority group on the 5-C’s there isn’t much information available on the community. We created this newsletter in response to that.” (Voices From The Margin, Volume 1, Issue 1) There have been three publications so far.
Volume 1 Issue 1
-What this newsletter is
-The History of Capas
-Talks how the AARC was created, and then from the AARC, the push for CAPAS was created.
-The Mission of CAPAS
-Talks about how CAPAS can help in the creation of an Asian American community
-Hate Crimes and other Racist Acts
-Talks of Hate incidents and crimes in the news. Talks about offensive clothes
-APAHE Conference
-Talks about the institutionalized racism that is in the United States, and how Asian Americans can succeed.
Volume 2 Issue 1
-CAPAS Events which included Better Luck Tomorrow, Vote No on Prop. 54
-Art (as in student Art was printed in the newsletter)
-Poems about being Asian American, or about being a minority in the US
The poems covered personal experiences, alienation from the US,
-Environmental issues
-Asian American women in hip hop and DJing.
Volume 2 Issue 2
-Art
-Poems
-Poems cover alienation, self exploration, a split
-Environmental Issues
-Politics
-An anti-Bush article
-Women in the Military
-Covers Asian American women in the military, and the experience of a Susette Cheng when she went to Iraq
-Pieces about the self
-These articles covered Asian American identity and what it means to be one, a students grandfather, an article talking about feeling like being split in half one part, Asian, one part American
-Asian American Activism on campus
-There were articles talking about the silence of Asian Americans at the Claremont Colleges. These articles talked about how Asian Americans were silent after a lot of the hate incidents that happened on campus during the Spring of 2004 (these include niggar being written on the wall, OAD Incident where in order to join the club one must take a picture with ten Asians, a cross burning, the Kerry Dunn incident where a professor pretended that her car was vandalized and scribbled with racist remarks when in reality she did it. However he did this in reaction to all the hate incidents that were happening.) They were talking about the need for Asian Americans to respond, become activists, instead of remaining quiet.
-Asian video games and their impact on the Asian American community.
16. AAMPlified
>> These articles talked about AAMP events held. It also addresses issues about the difficulty of attracting students to workshops or forums about issues of Asian Americans. It also talked about mentees and how they felt. It was a lot about the status of AAMP and it trying to reach out to the administration, the students, the community
17. Miscellaneous Article
>> We couldn’t find a hardcopy of the piece, but there was an article that was about the comments that the head of CMC admissions said, stating that they didn’t accept as many Asian Americans because they aren’t made for leadership roles for which the school is known for, and that they isolate themselves from the rest of the community.
18. The Claremont Courier- March 14, 1992
“Message s of HATE- Attacks on Asian- Americans stir variety of campus responses”
- Some students who had been excited about the new availability of an AAS course at Pitzer painted “Asian American Studies Now” on the Walker Wall to promote Asian American Studies at Pomona College
- Next morning letters were found crossed out to spell out a different message: “Asian Americans Dies Now”
- The following year a multi- ethnic coalition of students took over Alexander Hall and demanded a commitment to expand the diversity of the curriculum
- Concerned students wrote a memorandum for demands
- A broad based harassment policy that addresses all forms of harassment
- Immediate hiring of an Asian American Studies chair and the establishment of an Asian American Studies at Pomona College
- Immediate hiring of faculty to teach ASAM and the hiring of minority faculty and administrators
- Public statement from the President condemning this incident expressing racial hatred
- Education on issues of race in the dorms on a regular basis
- The president wrote a reply to the memorandum and these demands were established
- Students were much more politically charged since this incident happened.