CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

This article was written by Paula Y. Bagasao for the November/December 1989 issue of Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning features the narratives of 10 Asian and Pacific American student voices from across the country, including those of three Hunter students—Woei-Ming New, Kelly Nishimura, and Bevayani Nautiyal. The article was written as a counter piece to the now infamous 1987 Time Magazine cover story on Asian American "whiz kids," for which Bagasao was interviewed. This article aims to portray the heterogeneity and reality of Asian American student experiences. Nishimura describes how her experience in the Asian Pacific Student Alliance at Hunter changed her relationship to it as a commuter school as well as how the largely first-generation, working class, and Third World student body shaped her consciousness. New was a restaurant worker and beneficiary of CUNY's Open Admissions policy and went on to be reportedly the first Asian American student body president in the CUNY system.

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.