united states: Dartmouth College students call for Asian-American studies program
Katie Martin, The Dartmouth (Dartmouth Col.)

HANOVER, New Hampshire - Leafing through the pages of the course prospectus, Dartmouth College students find Latino studies, African and African-American studies, Jewish studies, Asian and Middle Eastern studies, and American Indian studies. Morna Ha and Derrick Chu would like to see Asian-American studies added to that list.

Ha and Chu, heads of the Asian-American task force, held the first meeting regarding the Asian-American Studies Initiative last week.

"A lot of people are under the impression that Asian-American studies is the same thing as Asian studies. That's one of the stereotypes we're trying to combat - the concept that Asian-Americans are perpetual foreigners," Chu said.

Past students have suggested such a program, but this is the first cohesive effort, said Nora Yasumura, adviser to Asian and Asian-American students.

"We're shooting to get a minor here, but that is a long-term goal. Right now, we're trying to facilitate the awareness of Asian-American issues," Chu said.

As part of the awareness effort, the Pan-Asian and Asian-American Studies Lecture Series has brought several up-and-coming Asian-American scholars, including Vijay Prashad, to the College. Evelyn Hu-DeHart, director of the Centre for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America, will speak in February.

The class of 2005 has the largest number of Asian and Asian-American students in Dartmouth history. Many, Ha said, come to Hanover, New Hampshire, hoping to take Asian-American classes.

Currently, there are two courses dealing specifically with Asian-American issues in the history department and two in the English department.

"To come to Dartmouth and see that your history isn't represented is somewhat disconcerting from a personal perspective," Shirley Lin said. "I majored in Spanish because of the parallels; it deals with race, gender and cross-cultural connections."

At Columbia, Brown, and Cornell universities and University of Pennsylvania, students already can opt to major in Asian-American studies. Ha said she hopes to model an interdisciplinary program on theirs, as well as the other ethnic programs the College currently offers.

"A lot of people don't realize why adding an additional department is necessary," Yasumura said.

Although many Asian-American students on campus hope to use this academic avenue to study their own identities, Ha emphasized the new offering would not be just for Asian-Americans.

"I feel it would definitely help students to understand my experiences and those of my peers," Lin said.

Creating a new academic department is a long process, Assistant Dean of the Faculty Jane Carrol said.

"There are so many steps along the way. Part of it is the interest of the faculty and students, then there is the research. All of this, as you might expect, takes a very long time," she said.

Students are willing to wait but are excited about the potential of the initiative.

"We understand that it's going to take a while," Ha said, "but Derek and I are here to get the ball rolling."

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