THE PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES

Where are we right now?

We reached Stage Two during spring of 2019 and anticipate advancing to Stage Three at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. We are thankful to have hired Professor Jan Padios as a senior line with tenure and Professor Kelly Chung in the past three years. However, there are still not enough FTE resources at the college to sustain a robust Asian American studies program. As Professor Dorothy Wang will be going on leave as of Fall 2022 for three semesters, followed by Professor Jan Padios going on leave for another three semesters when Professor Wang returns, our current Asian American Studies staff is limited to one tenured and one untenured professor. These faculty members have to serve the curricular needs of the American Studies program (which has a robust major) while establishing a new program of Asian American studies.

We cannot sustain an entire program on the backs of tired students and only two professors. In conjunction with the creation of an Asian American Studies concentration, we desperately need the hiring of more Asian Americanist professors to staff and sustain a robust program for years to come.

The bureaucratic stages for establishing AAS are as follows:

Stage One: A proposal for the allocation of more FTEs in Asian American Studies must be submitted to the Curricular Planning Committee (CPC).

Stage Two: A yearlong CPC working group must be formed to study the proposal and provide recommendations for hiring to the Committee on Appointments & Promotions (CAP), which can either approve or deny recommendations.

Stage Three: Once the minimum number of AAS professors are brought to campus (or at the same time as the CPC is working to bring more faculty in), a proposal for the formation of a program (either major or concentration) must be submitted to the Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA).

Stage Four: A yearlong CEA working group must study and provide recommendations for the establishment of a program to the Committee on Appointments & Promotions (CAP), which can either approve or deny recommendations.

Stage Five: Before a program is established, it must be approved by a full faculty vote.

**Please note that a program's establishment can be approved by a full faculty vote regardless of the recommendation of the CEA, CPC, or CAP.

Stage Six: Adequate resources, mentorship, and faculty members must be provided to the AAS program.

This year, we will focus on:

  • Have conversations with Professor Padios and Professor Chung to see how students can best help them

  • Work with the History Department to find an Asian Americanist to replace Professor Scott Wong

  • Ask the WGSS Department to find an Asian Americanist to replace Professor Vivian Huang

  • Have individual conversations with chairs and faculty of other units on campus to ask how heir units can either hire more faculty whose research and teaching areas can support AAS or voice more vocally and openly to support the AAS movement on campus (note than an AAS program is not just for students of Asian descent, but for ALL students)

  • Continue to coalition-build amongst students, faculty, and alumni as well as the Board of Trustees

  • Raise awareness and host teach-ins about Asian American Studies throughout the year

A Brief History

Since the 1990s, three formal proposals for Asian American Studies have been written, submitted, and campaigned. Two have been unsuccessful (2004-2005, 2012-2013), and one is currently in consideration (2018-2019) with the Curricular Planning Committee (CPC).

  • Mid-1980s: The History department at Williams hires Professor Scott Wong to fill a position in immigration history. Professor Wong specializes in Asian American History.

  • Early 1990s: Students at Williams College submit a flurry of contract majors that include advocacy on behalf of Asian American Studies courses. The CEP pushes back against a faculty's suggestion for an Asian writers course in 1992-1993. A proposal for Asian American Studies is started and worked on by student organizers and faculty throughout the decade.

  • 2001-2002: Members of AASiA decide to rewrite the proposal begun in the 1990s. They begin the process of collecting information, reaching out to administrators, and writing a mission statement for the AAS movement. This includes a compiled list of Asian American Studies courses taught at other institutions in English and History. This proposal is not officially submitted to the CEP.

  • 2004-2005: Students from the 2001 movement send the proposal to current AASiA undergraduates. Members of the movement officially submit the proposal to the CEP for a year-long study. The CEP finds that, while supportive of Asian American studies, the “size of the faculty [cannot] be further expanded to any significant degree.”

  • 2005-2006: As a result of student activism, the American Studies program hires Professor Dorothy Wang. Professor Wang specializes in Asian American Literature.

  • 2007-2008: Professors Maria Elena Cepeda, Stéphane Robolin, and Dorothy Wang found the Faculty-Staff Initiative (FSI). A student movement "Stand With Us" is created in response to the n-word's being scrawled on campus. This movement is later co-opted by the College as Claiming Williams. AASiA members host multiple events throughout the year around Asian American identity on campus and nationally.

  • 2008-2009: A racially-charged epithet targeting Asian Americans on campus is drawn on a school building. While professors write a Record article about the incident, the administration does not respond.

  • 2009-2010: A Faculty-Staff Initiative (FSI) conducted by Williams professors and staff finds that Williams College does not adequately support minority faculty after they are hired and place unpaid social burdens upon minority staff, leading to the widespread problem of weak retention.

  • 2011-2012: Melinda Wang, Allen Lum, and Gina Chung meets with administration officials repeatedly and tries to spread awareness of the need for Asian American Studies—to no avail. Organizers form the following website to track progress over the term (https://aastudieswilliams.wordpress.com/). They host multiple, visible events throughout the year in support of Asian American Studies. Administrators are generally supportive but no tangible progress is made.

  • 2012-2013: A few students disrupt the Homecoming game before it starts with banners protesting for the need for an Asian American studies program. An External Review of Williams’ American Studies department is conducted by professors from UMass Amherst, Amherst College, University of Michigan, and University of Washington; all four professors unanimously agree that Williams’ American Studies does not have enough Asian Americanists and needs an Asian American Studies program. Members of the movement submit another formal proposal for Asian American Studies to the CEP for consideration. AASiA members protest at Homecoming to raise awareness. A quote from Melinda Wang ‘14 in The Record reads: “...the issue is not that the College lacks the funding to provide a program, but that it does not yet prioritize it.”

  • 2013-2014: A cluster for Asian American Studies on the course catalog is approved by the CEP before its dissolution into the Curricular Planning Committee (CPC) and Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA). This cluster is not the same as a program; it is a collection of Asian American Studies courses for students to find more easily.

  • 2015-2016: AASiA encourages professors and administrators on the CPC and Committee on Appointments & Promotions (CAP) to attend Asian American Studies events. No member of the CAP or CPC responds to this email, nor does any member of the administration, CAP, or CPC attend the event (except for Gail Newman, Professor of German).

  • 2016-2018: Under the leadership of Professor Dorothy Wang and Professor Li Yu, a group of twenty-five faculty members hailing from eighteen different units formed an ad hoc Asian American Studies Working Group and submitted a formal staffing request to the CAP and CPC on March 1, 2018. This staffing request calls for (1) an establishment of an independent Asian American Studies program; and (2) hiring of one new faculty member (1.0 FTE) who specializes in Asian American Studies (field open, rank open) to start in 2019-2020.

  • 2018-2019: The CPC working group recommends:

    • (1) to allocate a tenured or tenure-track position to replace any of its current Asian Americanists should they retire or otherwise leave the college.

    • (2) to allocate 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)

    • (3) to give written and public commitment towards the establishment of Asian American Studies by the end of a 5-year period

    • (4) to allocate 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)

    • While the CPC has approved the formation of a working group to consider Asian American Studies for 2018-19, and while the CEA approves the re-formation of a cluster for Asian American Studies on the course catalog, the CAP and administration have not given any public commitment towards the establishment of AAS to date. They have stated that they cannot give this commitment until the program is approved, established, and demonstrates significant student interest, but the school refuses to provide the resources necessary to sustain a successful program.

  • 2018-2019: Amherst College gives a public commitment for the establishment of Asian American Studies by 2023 if not sooner.

  • 2019-2020: Professor Dorothy Wang leads a successful search which ended with he hiring of Professor Jan Padios as a senior faculty who specializes in Asian American studies. AASiA launches its “I Am Asian American” photo campaign. An Asian American professor at Williams is harassed by another professor in the English department. AASiA stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement and partakes in a school-wide pan-racial activist organization CARE Now.

  • 2020-2021: The second tenure-track AAS hire is approved for Fall 2021. AASiA works to find an academic department to house the line. No department offered to house the line, except for American Studies and Religion, but even Religion soon retracted their offer.

  • 2021-2022: The American Studies program forms a search committee to fill the second tenure-track AAS hire. The search committee is chaired by Professor Dorothy Wang and composed of Professors Jan Padios, Mark Reinhardt, and Eli Nelson. Four candidates come in for job talks and faculty lunches to meet with students, and after careful consideration by the committee and after collecting student feedback, the hiring committee offers the position to two candidates, both of whom had unfortunately accepted offers elsewhere. The job search continues, bringing in Professor Kelly Chung who once taught in the WGSS Department as a visiting professor. Professor Scott Wong retires. Professor Vivian Huang leaves the college. Professor Franny Choi’s visiting professorship ends.