A3C Director/Asst Dean Has Arrived, Welcome Reception Next Week!

As a reminder, Patricia Nguyen has officially started working at Cornell as of today! Stop by and say hi; she would love to get to meet everyone. Her office is located in Willard Straight, Room 208 (where the Office of Student Support is housed). Her email is pcn29@cornell.edu.

Also, a welcome reception for Patricia will happen on Tuesday, April 28th at 4:30pm at the Asian American Resource Center, 4th floor Rockefeller. Make sure you put this in your calendars!

We also have a Facebook invite. Click to invite yourselves!

Funeral March & Articles about Them

Yesterday, April 2nd, some A3C Committee members joined with other people of color and LGBT people to observe a symbolic funeral for diversity on campus.

Here was the press release for it:

Funeral for Program Houses and safe spaces at Cornell. Students gather to mourn the loss of safe spaces for minorities at Cornell.

Procession to Ho Plaza will start at 12:15pm in front of Sibley Hall on

Thursday April 2, 2009.

Funeral begins at 12:30 on Ho Plaza.

Please dress in black.

Cornell University is regarded as a forward thinking institution committed to diversity and inclusiveness, with a program house system that is respected throughout the country.

However, the university’s purposeful marginalization of these spaces has created the conditions for them to be degraded and disregarded. Cornell’s current policies and attitudes, if continued, will ensure the disappearance of these spaces in the near future.

We are gathering as concerned members of the community to raise awareness of Cornell’s present-day policies and attitudes so that we can prevent this outcome. Specifically, we come to raise awareness for Ujamaa, Latino Living Center, Akwe:kon, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Support Services and the Asian/Asian American Center.

We are aware that these spaces are not currently defunct, however, if action is not taken, they will disappear in the future. The funeral is symbolic of the impending consequences of inaction.

Contact thecoalitioncu@gmail.com for questions.

The Cornell Sun also came out with a front page article reporting on it and an op-ed piece:

• Article: "C.U. Minorities Stage Mock Funeral, Ask for Greater Univ. Support" - The title is actually not accurate, but it is beyond the control of the reporter--news editors are the only ones making these titles. First, it implies that only "minorities" should care about diversity. Second, participants of the march are not only asking for greater support, but support that used to be there but were cut or subtly being phased out.
• Op-Ed: "A New Vision for Program Houses" - A great article written by three community leaders. It sheds light on how the administration has been dealing with diversity problematically and how it can make changes that actually work as they are supposed to.
• Op-Ed: "Running the Risk of Whitewashing History" - A somewhat related article about the WSH Takeover from 1969.
  

Interim A3C Floor Plan

Here is the floor plan of the interim A3C. Click on the image for a larger view.

The shaded rectangle on the bottom of the picture was our space. Right now, we are able to use the "secret" chapter room space as well, which would practically double the size we had originally. Renovations include breaking down the blocked doorways to the chapter room and making new walls around the two offices and restroom (left corner of image).

If you want a better copy, I can try sending the PDF to you. Shoot me an email.

Recent Editorials/Articles

1. Anti-A3C Editorial by Anthony Liu, dated 3/4/09

Check out the comments under the editorial.

By the way, if Cornell administrators say they support program housing, it's about time they speak up on this issue--publicly--and why they support it. While the A3C will not be a program house, program houses and the A3C (as well as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center) are safe spaces for oppressed groups to gather and have resources devoted to their needs.

2. Response to Liu by Kevin Cheng, Irene Li, & Olivia Tai, dated 3/5/09

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3. Unrelated to what's above: Chronicle article, dated 3/6/09, reporting on Monday's forum and updates about A3C.

Is anyone else bothered that this center is always called "Asian center" in the media?

Thank you for attending Monday's Forum!

Hi all,

Thank you for attending Monday's A3C Forum! With your tough questions and take-no-crap attitude, we showed the administrators that they have to be accountable to us, despite the reality of the economic downturn. The fact is, the A3C project is both a tiny and necessary initiative that Asian/Asian American communities deserve.

1) For future reference and to keep a good account of what the administration said,

Alex Berg's article is a great summary of what was discussed: http://cornellsun.com/node/35721. If you have any comments/constructive criticism, she would like to hear from you (aberg@cornellsun.com).

Clara Ng-Quinn, Kevin Cheng, Janelle Teng, and Susan Duan have recorded some chunks of the forum.

• For the first few minutes, check out Clara's link: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/video/video.php?v=616819292035
• For the last hour or so, check out Kevin's link: http://www.archive.org/details/2008CornellA3cForum-March2nd
• We are still waiting on other clips.
  

If anyone else has recorded any part of the forum or has taken photos, please let me know.

2) For those who attended, please help the A3C Committee archive what happened!

• Email me your notes/thoughts from the forum - even one sentence helps a lot.
• Link me to your photos or recordings of the forum.
• Please volunteer to listen to five or so minutes of a clip we will assign you to. You do not have to transcribe everything--only what you feel deserves attention.
  

A3C Forum - THIS Monday!

Dear friends,

We, the students, staff, faculty, and administrators on the Committee for the Asian/Asian American Center (A3C), invite you to attend the second community forum addressing the A3C. This forum will be a unique opportunity to engage with Cornell's top administrators with concerns regarding the resources for communities on campus.

In the spring of 2008, we held the first forum to address the needs of the Asian and Asian American community at Cornell. Top administrators pledged their commitment to establishing A3C and called for the formation of a committee to oversee its implementation. Present at this forum were President David Skorton, Vice President Susan Murphy, Dean of Students Kent Hubbell, and Vice Provost David Harris.

Now, a year later, our administration will again speak on A3C. At this new forum, A3C committee members will update the public on the progress of A3C, as well as the next steps to be taken in the future. President Skorton and Dean Hubbell will be present at this forum to address the administration's stance on A3C and to answer your questions.

This forum is open to all members of the Cornell community and friends. We would appreciate it if you would forward this invitation to your friends and email lists.

Here are the details:

Date: Monday, March 2
Time: 6:30 - 8:00pm

Location: HEC Auditorium, Goldwin Smith

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52922927529

See you at the forum!

We are happy to announce that...

The Assistant Dean of Students for Asian/Asian American Outreach is finally hired! Patricia Nguyen is filling two positions, as she will also be the Director of the A3C. Patricia will begin work on April 20th. We look forward to hearing more information from Associate Dean of Students Tanni Hall in the days to come.