FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. What is Asian American Studies?

Asian American Studies focuses on the lived experiences, histories, and critical contributions of Asians in and to the United States. It is a multidisciplinary area of study that, while housed in American Studies, spans into fields such as Political Science, English/Comparative Literature, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Art History, Anthropology, Sociology and Legal Studies.

2. What is the difference between Asian and Asian American Studies?

Asian Studies focuses on the history and culture of Asian people living in Asia, while Asian American Studies is interested in the experiences of Asian American citizens and immigrants living in the United States. While Asian Studies and Asian American   Studies might intersect in the field of diaspora studies of the Asian people, the intellectual origin and theoretical concerns of the two area studies are different.

3. Why do we need Asian American Studies?

Asian American Studies provides an opportunity for not only Asian American students to learn about their identity and history, but also for all students to learn about the unique ways Asian American experiences have shaped and defined American culture and society. Moreover, Asian American Studies is not just for Asian American students but for all Williams students because it provides a critical space for learning about the integral contributions, sacrifices, and continued investment of Asian Americans across all disciplines that constitute all of our curricula today. We believe that enrollment pressures and student demand over the past 27 years indicates that there has been a sustained, significant interest in Asian American Studies at Williams College. 

4. Who are we? What are we asking for?

Closely linked to Williams College’s AASiA (Asian American Students in Action), we are a group of Asian American students at Williams College who are fighting for the establishment of an Asian American studies program at Williams. Our supporters include the two largest student body governments on campus, College Council and Minority Coalition, as well as Davis Center and many AAPI & non-AAPI students, faculty, trustees, & alumni. Our demands include:

  • A link on the course catalog for cross-listed discipline in Asian American Studies immediately.

  • The immediate hiring of one tenured or tenure-track Asian Americanist professor in the event that a current Asian Americanist should retire or otherwise leave the college.

  • The allocation of 1.0 new FTEs in Asian American Studies by the end of a 3-year period (for a total of 2.0 FTEs on average)*

  • The written and public commitment towards the establishment of Asian American Studies by the end of a 5-year period

  • The allocation of 2.0 additional FTEs in AAS by the end of a 5-year period (for a total of 4.0 FTEs a year on average)*

*Please note that a 1.0 FTE is a total of four classes in a given year; even if additional Asian Americanists are hired, their FTE allocations must be geared towards Asian American Studies rather than other courses. Our request for 4.0 FTEs in Asian American Studies is nearly impossible to be completed without the hiring of more visiting or tenure-track professors to contribute those FTEs. Please see Terms & Definitions for more details.

We believe that the establishment of an Asian American studies program is a crucial step towards getting the college to meet its dedication to completing our Williams curriculum and naturally increasing diversity of its faculty.

5. How has Williams responded to similar movements in the past?

On March 12, 1969, African American students occupied Hopkins Hall for several days in order to prompt administrative action for 15 demands on the establishment of an Afro-American studies department. 34 students occupied Hopkins while over 300 allies surrounded the hall to rally and guard the building. Due to this occupation, Williams agreed to meet 12 of the 15 demands proposed by the Williams Afro-American Society [WAAS], which included the addition of African American studies into the curriculum and the hiring of more Black faculty.

In 1991, three students went on a four-day hunger strike to create the tenure-track post in Latinx Studies. In 1993, a group of 75 Latinx students and their supporters held a rally to outline their three demands to the college and announce a hunger strike intended to continue until the demands were met. Three days later, 24 people were participating in the fast. The hunger strikes occurred out of frustration after attempting a variety of other tactics, including several petitions, articles in the Record, and letters to the administration. To this day, in LATS 105, students read the letter of demands issued to the administration during the 1993 hunger strike. In 2001, with the hire of Professor Whalen, the College finally began to seriously consider the creation of LATS, resulting in the hire of 5 professors in the LATS program over the course of 6+ years.

6. Where are we now?

We have demanded that Williams make a public commitment to establishing an Asian American Studies program at the end of these five years. However, the College has made no public commitment towards AAS, and thus once again ignores the demand of their underserved students. They have granted a yearlong study through the Curricular Planning Committee (CPC) and a cluster for Asian American Studies on the course reader. These steps make no tangible efforts towards establishing AAS; thus, we are standing for what we believe in to show the College that this matter is vital for the entirety of our campus. We will no longer stay quiet while the College denies us our histories and lived experiences.

7. How can YOU support the Asian American Studies Movement?

See Take Action for more!
 

USEFUL TERMS & DEFINITIONS

Program vs. Department: Our efforts this year are for a program, not a department. The distinction is that a department is a formalized body with a major and/or concentration, in-house faculty members, and resources. A program is a formalized body of courses with interdisciplinary faculty members and resources; it can formally offer a concentration (our request) like Justice and Law, Latinx Studies, or Environmental Studies, or it may not offer a concentration like Linguistics or Film and Media Studies.

Full-time employee (FTE): This term refers to the position that a faculty members occupies based on the number of courses they teach in a given field. 1.0 FTE is the equivalent of 4 courses per year. Tenure-track or tenured professors are considered to contribute a total of 1.0 FTEs (or four courses) to the college as a whole. A program generally requires at least a dedicated course-load of 3.0 FTEs (or 12 courses) to be established. Even if more professors are hired in a given field, it is also important that their FTEs (aka courses) are dedicated specifically to Asian American Studies; otherwise, their hirings do not contribute to the establishment of the program.

Professor Scott Wong (in History) and Professor Dorothy Wang (American Studies) each regularly offer two Asian American Studies courses per year. However, when they are on leave (as Professor Wang is now), their home departments are not obligated to find replacement FTEs to teach Asian American Studies courses. Although two tenure-track Assistant Professors have been hired in areas related to Asian American Studies (Professor Vivian Huang in WGSS and Professor Munjulika Tarah in Dance), their primary obligation is to teach courses in WGSS and Dance, not Asian American Studies; they will likely be unable to contribute more than 0.25 FTEs or one course in Asian American Studies per year. Also note that Professor Scott Wong and Professor Vivian Huang both finished their last semesters at Williams in Spring 2022, and the WGSS Department has made no commitment towards replacing Professor Huang’s position.

No-growth period: This means that Williams College will maintain, and will not increase, the current number of FTEs. Therefore, the only new faculty members that will be hired will be to replace or to re-allocate the FTE of a retiring faculty member. We are currently in a no-growth period until 2025, making the hiring of Asian Americanists harder than ever before.

Curricular Planning Committee (CPC): This committee is formed by members of the administration (President, Dean of the Faculty, and Provost) and six additional faculty members. The CPC makes recommendations to the CAP (below) on the hiring of additional faculty members. They examine criteria such as enrollment per FTE added, budget allocation for faculty members, and more.

CPC Working Group: This is the group formed by the CPC that will be considering the formation of an Asian American Studies program throughout the 2018-2019 school year. The names of this group have not yet been released by the CPC chair, Professor Nugent, though their first meeting will be in the beginning of September. Last year, the CPC and administration vouched that members of the movement will be allowed to sit on this working group, though this has remained unconfirmed.

Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA): This committee is formed by members of the administration (President, Dean of Faculty, Provost, Assistant Dean of the Faculty, and Registrar), seven additional faculty members, and six students. The CEA makes recommendations to the CAP (below) on the establishment of programs, concentrations, majors, departments, and other formalized structures. They examine criteria such as interdisciplinary cross-listings, course reader clusters, and more.

Committee on Appointments & Promotions (CAP): This committee is formed by members of the administration (President, Dean of the Faculty, and Provost) and three additional faculty members. The CAP holds the ability to accept or reject recommendations made by the CPC and CEA. They hold a large amount of power in the hiring of professors and establishment of programs.