UCLA FIRSTS Every other Friday, The Bruin will highlight social, political and scientific advancements that originated at UCLA and set standards for both the university and the nation.
By Jennifer Moizel
Daily Bruin Contributor
Massive strikes in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1968 partially led UCLA administrators to reconsider its lack of attention to ethnic studies at the time.
These demonstrations prompted them to establish four hybrid organized research units, or areas of study, according to the Asian American Studies Center.
In 1969, UCLA became the first university in the nation to open an Asian American Studies Center, which eventually allowed for the establishment of the first ever graduate degree program in Asian American studies.
After years of civil rights activities, the program opened smoothly in 1976.
“The graduate program didn’t meet a whole lot of opposition because a lot of the anger that was typically directed towards ethnic studies in those days was directed towards African American studies,” said Don Nakanishi, the center’s director. Nakanishi has worked with the Asian American Studies Program at UCLA for the last 25 years.
ANNA AVIK Professor Henry Yu speaks with his graduate class, Asian American Studies 200A: Critical Issues in Asian American Studies. The Asian American Studies Center first opened in 1969. Earlier efforts gone into creating classes in African American Studies, Nakanishi said, paved the way for the UCLA Academic Senate and the University of California to approve the Asian American Studies Graduate Program .
Marji Lee, current librarian of the center and a 1984 alumna of the graduate program, said most of the courses have remained the same, although they may have broadened in scope.
“Our field of vision and academic world was different back then,” Lee said.
She added that continued collaboration between the faculty, the staff at the center and the local Asian American community helped with the progression of the program.
With almost 40 professors from more than 20 departments and professional schools, the program is supported by the largest faculty in Asian American studies in the nation.
“One of the strengths of our program is that it’s interdisciplinary,” said Jeannie Shinozuka, a second-year graduate student in the discipline.
These interdepartmental ties have allowed for the development of a joint master’s degree, similar to a double major, in Asian American Studies and either Public Health or Social Welfare.
“We are considering offering other joint degrees as well,” Nakanishi said.
One of the crucial objectives of the program is to communicate the experiences and promote the study of Asian American and Pacific Island peoples as an ethnic group in the U.S., according to the program’s Web site.
ANNA AVIK Phil Hutchison and Shu Farmer, graduate students in Asian American Studies, discuss books during their Asian American Studies
Sang Chi, a second-year graduate student in Asian American
Studies, said some people tend to clump Asian Americans together
without regard to their specific ethnic identity.
“The privilege of being recognized as an individual is only accorded to certain people in this society,” he said
Chi said it’s important to preserve the immigration histories and the individuality of each ethnic identity within the Asian American community .
Dennis Arguelles, assistant director of the center, pointed out that, unlike other ethnic groups like Latinos for example, Asian Americans don’t even share a common language.
“The histories and cultures of each ethnic group are so unique that people will identify with their specific ethnic identity first,” Arguelles said.
Russell Leong, editor of “Amerasia,” a scholarly journal in Asian American Studies which is published at UCLA, said some people misunderstand the meaning behind Asian American studies.
“When people talk about race relations, people talk about black and white,” Leong said. “And sometimes, people will confuse Asian American Studies with Asian Studies.”
In its 31-year history, Asian American Studies at UCLA as a whole has progressed, but some students feel it doesn’t receive as much funding as it should in comparison to other disciplines.
“Asian American Studies is not considered a legitimate academic field, as other fields are,” Chi said.
Arguelles said that the university hasn’t provided much funding for the teaching program in the past but there are indications that more money will be allocated in the future.
“We hope that the administration will recognize the merits of our program,” Arguelles said. “We are hoping and expecting an infusion of funding that will make our teaching program up to the level of traditional disciplines.”
Lee said the establishment of the graduate program itself promoted the academic integrity of Asian American studies as a field of study.
Although the field of Asian American studies has spread nationwide, Lee said it isn’t an institutional priority at many East Coast universities.
With similar concerns, Chi pointed out that Asian American studies is only now starting to become recognized on the East Coast as a serious academic endeavor, as seen with the emergence of undergraduate minors and majors in the field.
Chi said recent incidents of student hunger strikes at the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland and Northwestern University calling for ethnic studies classes demonstrate the field’s growing recognition.
But UCLA remains the leader in Asian American studies in the nation in regards to its research, faculty and graduate training, according to the center’s Web site.
UCLA annually produces more doctoral dissertations and masters theses on Asian American studies topics than any other university in the world.
Today, Asian Americans make up 34.3 percent of UCLA’s total enrollment, and 38.2 percent of UCLA’s undergraduate enrollment, making them the largest ethnic group among undergraduates, and the second-to-largest ethnic group among the combined undergraduate and graduate population.
“The students of today have to thank the students of yesterday for their commitment and sacrifices,” said Lee.