Students at Brandeis University didn’t waste a minute pushing a proposal for an Asian American Studies program before the campus’ new president.
Just minutes after the inauguration of Ronald D. Liebowitz as the new president, the Brandeis Asian American Task Force delivered an open letter to him calling for the establishment of a new Asian American Studies program, reports the campus newspaper, The Justice.
Asian American Pacific Islander students make up 13 percent of the Boston campus’ undergraduate population and 5 percent of the graduate program.
“We wish to communicate the urgent need for AAPI Studies and the importance of accelerating the process of establishing an institutional home for AAPI Studies…In the words of Yuri Kochiyama, unless we know ourselves and our history, and other people and their history, there is really no way that we can really have the positive kind of interaction where there is real understanding.”
The open letter was accompanied by statements and letters from 19 other students and alumni.
The students are calling for a minor in Asian American Studies.
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