Editorial about the A3C

Hi all,

This editorial just came out today, written by a Sun staff writer. It's a short but eloquent read, so don't miss it!

Have a good weekend, everyone. We'll see if there are better updates during today's A3C Committee meeting.

Great Article on the A3C

Article published today on the Cornell Daily Sun.
Very accurate in terms of both the facts and the sentiments of students on the A3C Committee.

To discuss it, come to our info session TODAY at Goldwin Smith 156 @ 6pm!

Two More Info Sessions on the A3C

What is the A3C, other than standing for the Asian/Asian American Center? Why is it important? What are the difficulties?

What can you do to help?

To find the answers, we invite you to attend one of our info sessions.

Session #1:
Date: Tuesday, Oct 21 (tomorrow!)
Time: 6pm
Place: Goldwin Smith 156

Session #2:
Date: Wednesday, Oct 22
Time: 6pm
Place: Goldwin Smith 156

Let us know if you can make it at csn7@cornell.edu. If you can't make either of these sessions and still want to attend one, please let us know as well! We would very much appreciate it if you could all circulate this email to your friends and groups.

Once again, the goal of this Center is to provide university support for Asian and Asian American students and provide a space for community-building, cultural celebration, and the development of an Asian/Asian American consciousness. We are currently working with the administration on plans for the Center, but, as outlined in the form letter, we have run into some problems. We hope that with the support of a large number of students and their parents we can overcome these problems and see the creation of this Center.

Sincerely,

Bhavna Devani
Samantha Dong
Susan Duan
Caroline Hugh
Jonathan Pomboza
Clara Ng-Quinn

Students of the A3C Committee

form letter to administration

Hi everyone,

Please email this form letter to President Skorton, Vice President Murphy, and Dean of Students Hubbell. Their emails are: david.skorton@cornell.edu, shm1@cornell.edu, klh4@cornell.edu

Thank you!

Form letter:

Dear President Skorton, Vice President Murphy, and Dean Hubbell,

I was made aware of an Asian/Asian American Center initiative that was created in the semester of spring '08. At the time, I was very excited to hear of it because I truly believe that it is vital to have such a resource on campus, and I was very eager to see progress on the initiative during the upcoming months. Now that we are in the fall '08 semester, I have heard very disappointing news regarding the Center. From what I understand, renovations for the Center were supposed to have started by now, but it has been delayed due to bureaucratic processes within the University, such as accessibility issues within Willard Straight Hall, and uncertainty about the budget availability. While accessibility is a very important quality, it has been a problem that has been in Willard Straight for many decades. The Asian/Asian American Center project should be separate from this issue, not contingent on it.

As a concerned member of the Cornell community, I am deeply dismayed about these delays. I was under the impression that the Center would be ready to open by March '09, but with these bureaucratic problems, this deadline seems more and more impossible to be met. I worry that the Center will not come into existence by the time current students graduate.

I urge you, as the top administrators, to do everything in your power to expedite the creation of the Asian/Asian American Center. At the community forum in March '08, all of you promised your commitment to the creation of the Center. I and the rest of the Cornell community demand that you act on this commitment immediately.

Sincerely,

Action Items to Keep A3C Momentum Going!

A3C stands for "Asian/Asian American Center." It is a space for programming, mentorship, advising, cultural celebration, and education--not a living center. For a brief history of the movement for the A3C, visit the October 4th entry.

Please help out with any one of these projects or make your own suggestions! We (students on the A3C Committee and Cornell at large) can't establish the Center without your help!

• Form letters for students, parents, and alumni to send to administrators
• Info sessions to all people of color organizations to (1) get them informed and (2) get their support in the A3C effort
• News story in Daily Sun
• Op-ed in Daily Sun by (1) Committee member and/or (2) concerned student and/or (3) concerned alum
• Contact faculty and administrators who support our cause
• Contact alumni who support our cause
• Publicize during Trustee/Council Weekend
• Publicize during Family Weekend
• Forum about what has been accomplished for the A3C so far. Administrators invited to speak and be asked questions by community members.

a brief history about A3C

Hi all,

Some of you are new to the Asian/Asian American Center effort, and some of you might want reminding. Feel free to read an article Ri Turner and I wrote during the summer for the Asian American Studies Program.

http://www.aasp.cornell.edu/connections_2008.pdf - Go to pages 4 and 5.

I am also reposting it here.

The 2007-2008 academic year was a milestone year for the Cornell Asian and Asian American (AAA) community.

First, in February 2008, Cornell hosted the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) conference for the third time in ECAASU’s thirty-one year history. It was a record-breaking gathering, with over 1,500 AAA students from across the country in attendance. There were performances with open and free admission that Cornell students and local residents could attend. In addition to the cross-campus collaboration that the conference facilitated, ECAASU helped foster Cornell’s own AAA student community. Students who had not previously been involved in AAA campus organizing energetically participated in the organizing effort for ECAASU, and veteran leaders were happy to see that some of them continued their involvement throughout the semester in other AAA student efforts.

The second major AAA campus effort of the year was the launch of the A3C, which is the Asian and Asian American Center planning organization. Thanks to the efforts of the A3C, the Cornell administration has convened a committee to create the Center. The committee consists of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff, and it is co-chaired by Dean of Students Kent Hubbell and Human Ecology undergraduate Caroline Hugh ‘10. The committee aims to create an AAA center on campus, a hub that would offer space for community-building, cultural celebration, and the development of an AAA consciousness—similar to what spaces such as the Africana Studies and Research Center, the Latino Studies Program, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center currently do for other marginalized populations on campus.

The Center has been a long time coming. The most recent developments began in 2004 with the publication of the Asian and Asian American Task Force Report. The report examined the recruitment, retention, and satisfaction of AAA students and concluded that the AAA community was being underserved at Cornell*. Specifically, the report placed high priorities on two recommendations: first, that an assistant dean position be created in the Office of Student Support to oversee institutional efforts to meet the unique needs of the AAA population; and second, that a community center space be established on campus for the AAA community. The Assistant Dean position was created last October, and Associate Dean of Students Tanni Hall is currently coordinating the search for candidates to fill that position. However, in response to the slow-footed progress on the community center space, a coalition of students created the A3C organization to encourage institutional compliance with the second Task Force Report priority recommendation.

Student efforts for the A3C began during the fall semester of 2007, when leaders asked the undergraduate Student Assembly to support Resolution 8. The resolution cited findings in the 2004 Task Force Report as the main justification for an AAA center and declared that it was time the university followed up on this initiative. After a thoughtful discussion, the Student Assembly passed Resolution 8 on November 8, 2007, officially lending student government support to the creation of the Center. During the spring semester, A3C focused on encouraging upper levels of administration to comply with the Student Assembly resolution. On March 31, 2008, a panel of administrators including President David Skorton, Vice President Susan Murphy, Deputy Provost David Harris, and Dean of Students Kent Hubbell expressed to a packed audience their commitment to make the proposed center a reality.

President Skorton and Vice President Murphy then called together a committee specifically for the development of the A3C. The committee met weekly for the remainder of the spring semester. Most of the meetings focused on revising A3C’s program definition, objectives, and programming ideas. The discussions built on the rough proposal that student committee members had drafted for the Center. The last two meetings focused especially on prospective spaces for the center. Currently, Dean Hubbell favors a space in one of the lower levels of Willard Straight Hall. The committee recognizes that such a space would be useful temporarily in establishing an interim center, but in the long term, the committee agrees that it is essential for the Center to have its own building.

Now that the 2007-2008 academic year is over, AAA campus community organizers look back with mixed feelings: we have seen a marked increase in the closeness, consciousness, and empowerment of the AAA community and its allies. However, we have also faced significant delays from the administration in acknowledging our unique needs and strengths as a community. As always, we end the year pushing forward—there is always more work to do.

* For the full version of the AAATF report, visit http://www.gannett.cornell.edu/downloads/campusIniatives/mentalhealth/AAATFreport2004.pdf .

A3C is a coalition of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We welcome feedback and involvement from all walks of Cornell life.

Caroline Hugh is a junior in the college of Human Ecology. She can be reached at ch455@cornell.edu.

Ri Turner is a senior in the college of Arts and Sciences. She can be reached at rjt23@cornell.edu.