Our Roots

This email, dated June 3, 1991, to then-Provost David Scott was sent by APASO's co-presidents in 1991. From this email, one can glean a bit more about the behind-the-scenes work that went into seeking approval for an Asian American Studies program.  A central plea of theirs was to address the "complete lack of courses offered specifically on Asian Pacific Americans. In their words, the current status quo was "dismal."

In the years since, APASO has continued to grow and remains a major advocate for APIDA/A students on campus. One of their consistent advocacy tactics has been to hold space for APIDA/A students on campus through events such as Cultural Vogue (adverts for which can be found elsewhere on the site).

            

This 1991 set of correspondences between Dean John Eddie and Assistant Provost Robert Banks of the College of Arts and Letters detail some of the temporary arrangements that went into building up an Asian American Studies course offering.  Included in these scans are the email communication between Robert Banks and Thomas Y. Fujita about administrative matters regarding Thomas Y. Fujita's potential hiring to teach this course, as well as Thomas Y. Fujita's job application materials.

 

Here you can find PDF scans of the course proposal prepared by Thomas Y. Fujita in 1991 on "The Asian American Experience," which includes a syllabus for the course from University of Michigan containing then-current literature with a proposed course calendar.

This email, dated January 9th, 1992, was to then-Provost David Scott from Roger J. Bresnahan.  In it, you can glean a little more about how certain actors went about seeking institutional support and approval to teach an Asian American literature course at the university.

 

Here you can find a copy of the Asian American Literature course syllabus from Professor Bresnahan submitted to Provost David Scott for consideration.

The following is Connie Rose Tingson's letter to Provost David Scott on behalf of APASO in 1992. In the letter, she urges the Provost to approve of the new course, and states how APASO's advisor, Maggie Chen, received a call from Professor Roger Bresnahan from the American Thought & Literature Department who has been supportive of their proposal. Professor Bresnahan had offered to teach the course as an "independent study" without being monetarily compensated because there was no action taken in supporting the Spring 1992 300 level course as had planned. APASO states that Professor Bresnahan should still be compensated for this valiant effort, urging that the Provost "uphold [their] commitment towards 'diversity' and 'multiculturalism.'"

Here you can find Provost Scott's response to Connie Rose Tingson to get a closer look at how he pointed out several courses that already teach Asian-American content or relate to countries of Asia. He looks forward to the new system that will helps students be able to identify these courses more easily as well as points to Professor Bresnahan's "independent study" as courses that will pave the way for the approval of future Asian-American studies courses. He ends his letter by saying that "We are pleased there are some indications of modest attempts to do so, stimulated by the efforts of you and others, and the Office of the Provost is committed to promoting such ventures." This email scan includes a sticky note from Connie to Maggie Chen with a personal note on how excited she was at the Provost's response.

A copy of the proposal for an Asian Pacific American student advisory council from 1993. Included are its stated objectives and purpose, schedule for the fall semester, and composition.

Here you can find scans of meeting reminders and agendas with some notes from APA coordinator Maggie Chen from 1993.

Below, you can learn more of the Statement of Needs from the MSU Asian Pacific American Faculty Staff Association from 1994 in which the faculty and staff outline the need for further programming and support for APAS.

The following is a PDF scan of Khyati Y. Joshi's cover letter, research statement, and CV seeking to be a guest speaker from 1995.

Here you can find a reproduction of MSU's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 1996 FOCUS newsletter.  Please look through it to get a better sense of how our university's APIDA/A community celebrated Heritage Month back in the day.

Here you can find a copy of program for the 7th annual APA Forum, jointly held by the Lansing Community College and Mid-Michigan Asian Pacific American Association on March 13, 1997.

Below, you can get a closer look at the 1999 proposed specialization in Asian American Studies from then-Coordinator of Asian American Studies Sheng-mei Ma.

Here you can take a closer look at a 1999 draft proposal pitched by Peter Levine to the university's advisory board in support of a new American Studies Undergraduate Major (replete with Asian-American Studies track).

 

 Here you can take a gander at an anonymous student's handwritten note detailing some of the following issues: 1) definition of Asian American studies; 2) identification of needs of APAS; 3) how to implement needs and defense for APAS; 4) issues raised by APIDA/A students in APAS. This is followed by several pages of notes defending the existence of an purposes of an APAS program; and a document which discusses the needs within the institution to make an APAS program happen. The notes also include a pipeline to support graduate students and observations regarding the role of Asian American students in APAS and strategies.

A flyer announcing the 20th year reunion of the Asian Pacific American Student Organization (APASO).  Please scan through the rest of the site to find some more highlights from APASO's more than forty year history.

The following documents detailing different violence or discrimination against APIDA/A communities and the actions taken afterwards about them are examples of opportunities that set precedent and modeled for current activism.  Please click on the individual thumbnails to zoom in.

Vincent Chin. 1982.

A collection of material tied to the infamous 1982 Vincent Chin murder case.

V. Mishra. 1982

Daren Estep's 1986 article discussing Dr. Vishwa Mishra – an Associate Professor of Journalism – suing MSU for racial discrimination stretching back to 1982.

A. Hirai. 1979

Jennifer Harsha's 1985 article detailing the case of Dr. Atsuko Hirai's, which saw the university charged by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights with unlawful discrimination for refusing to grant the former history professor tenure due to her ethnicity and gender in 1979.

 

Tien. 1984

Arthur Stine's 1986 brief to Asian Network regarding Kiet and Thong Tien, who were charged at Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge for supposed breaking and entering with intent to commit murder. An associated Lansing State Journal article noted that the Mid-Michigan Asian Pacific American Association’s President, Herbert Yamanishi, asked that Attorney General Michael Hocking drop the charges in “an effort to let politics enter the judicial system.”