CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

This video documents the conference, titled "Strengthening Education: Empowering Asian American Studies," that was hosted by the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH) on April 16, 2008, to address the need for support for Asian American Studies in higher education. At the conference, Asian American Studies Program inaugural director Peter Kwong credited CRAASH with saving Asian American studies at Hunter from extinction and called for more changes to be made still. He addressed the program's lack of full-time faculty and necessary dependence on adjunct labor, insufficient budget, and the administration's willful failure to understand the intellectual integrity of Asian American studies as a discipline. Other speakers and performers included Alvin Lau, Lily Qi, Anthony Advincula, Kendra Lee, and Sookyung Oh.

The Hunter College Asian American Studies Program (AASP) was established in 1993. As the only academic program in Asian American studies in the CUNY system, the AASP offers a minor in Asian American Studies and other resources and programming. The AASP supports scholars, artists, and activists advancing scholarship in the fields of Asian American studies and critical ethnic studies and serves as a resource for New York City's Asian American communities. In 2006, the program was at risk of being cut due to a lack of funding. Students formed the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH) and saved the program within a year. CRAASH is now a student-run club that continues to advocate for the AASP.