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Edited by: Russell Jeung, Karen Umemoto, Harvey Dong, Eric Mar, Lisa Hirai Tsuchitani, Arnold Pan This book shares the narratives of nine remarkable students. For each of these Asian Americans, their ethnic heritages and racialized experiences, their family backgrounds, their education, and the social movements of their day intersected so that they became agents of change. Specifically, they organized and mobilized fellow students and community members to establish and further Asian American Studies (AAS) on their campuses. AAS has since grown not only to offer a relevant curriculum for and about these students, but also to help develop and empower their communities. With accounts of the development of AAS at San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA, Mountain Movers highlights how students have changed the course of history. |
ISBN: 978-0-934052-54-2 Contact the AASC Press for classroom discounts on bulk orders over 15 copies
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TIMELINE
General History
SFSU
UCLA
Berkeley
1950 The Korean War begins. President Harry Truman commits ground forces under a United Nations command of 16 nations. An anti-Communist campaign begins in US Chinatowns following China's entry into the Korean War. US Senator Joseph McCarthy claims to have a list of 205 State Department employees who are members of the Communist Party USA. 1952 The McCarran-Walter Act lifts the ban on Japanese and Korean immigration and permits their naturalization rights. 1953 Congress adopts an official policy of Native American tribal termination. By 1964, 109 tribes are terminated and lose federal recognition by the US government, and roughly 2.5 million acres of trust land are removed from protected status and sold. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education. The US Supreme Court declares segregation unconstitutional in all US public schools, nullifying the earlier judicial doctrine of "separate but equal" under Plessy v. Ferguson. Hernandez v. Texas. The US Supreme Court rules that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the US are entitled to equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. 1955 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association in Alabama and leads a year-long boycott against the city's racially segregated bus line. 1957 President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, AK to enforce a federal court order to desegregate Central High School and protect nine black students from angry whites. 1958 The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) forms in Atlanta, GA. 1960 Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, NC begin a sit-in at Woolworth's Drug Store to protest racially segregated lunch counters. 150 black and white students found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The 1960 Civil Rights Act establishes federal inspection of voter registration rolls and penalties for those obstructing a citizen's attempt to register to vote. 1961 The First Freedom Ride leaves Washington, DC for the deep South. The US begins recruiting and training residents of Laos (mostly Hmong) to help fight the Communist Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese in a "secret war." 1962 For 13 days, the Cuban Missile Crisis brings the US and the Soviet Union close to the threat of thermonuclear total war. The Japanese American Research Project (JARP) established. 1963 NAACP leader Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, MI. SCLC's Birmingham Campaign begins, a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall, and boycotts on downtown merchants to oppose segregation laws in the city. During the March on Washington, DC, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" address to over 200,000 demonstrators demanding civil rights and equal opportunity. 1964 The Free Speech Movement takes place at UC Berkeley, the first mass act of civil disobedience on a college campus in the US during which students insist that the university administration lift the ban on on-campus political activities and acknowledge their right to free speech and academic freedom. The US federal government approves of the military coup overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diemin of Vietnam. During his State of the Union address President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his Great Society program, a series of domestic programming promising to eliminate poverty and inequality in America. The 1964 Civil Rights Act bans discrimination in employment and all public accommodations and establishes the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC). The 1964 Economic Opportunity Act initiates the federally sponsored War on Poverty, which includes Head Start, Upward Bound, and Volunteers in Service to America. 1965 30,000 protest for five days against frequent police violence and racial discrimination against blacks in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, resulting in 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, and over $40 million in property damage. Malcolm X is assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, NY. 600 Alabama civil rights activists stage a Selma-to-Montgomery protest to draw attention to the continued denial of black voting rights and are attacked by Alabama State Troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Two days later, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads a 5-day, 54-mile march retracing the route of the original activists, which begins with 3,300 marchers and ends with 25,000. The 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibits racial discrimination in voting. The Delano Grape Strike occurs, led by Larry Itliong. The Hart-Cellar Act eliminates racial restrictions in immigration law -- particularly against Asians, Africans, and southern and eastern Europeans -- and prioritizes family reunification and professional migration. President Lyndon Johnson deploys American combat troops to Vietnam, resulting in widespread antiwar demonstrations in the US. 1966 The United Farm Workers, the largest and most important farm worker union in the nation, is established with Cesar Chavez as its director. The New York Times publishes William Peterson's "Success Story: Japanese American Style." US News and World Report publishes "Success Story of One Minority Group in US," praising Chinese Americans and Chinatowns. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form the Black Panther Party in Oakland, helping to establish chapters all over the country -- including San Francisco's Bayview/Hunter's Point and the Fillmore District. San Francisco State College students Jimmy Garrett, Marianna Waddy, Jo Ann Mitchell, Benny Stewart, Jerry Vernado, and others in the Negro Students Association change their name to the Black Student Union (BSU). Garrett had been active in the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and other organizers were influenced by the rise in Black mili-tancy and the Black Liberation Movement. They begin work linking the campus to Black communities through the campus tutorial program. They also take control of the student government and its re-sources and begin to influence campus policy-making. October: Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale form the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Oakland. Their neighborhood friend Richard Aoki assists in the writing of the Party's 10-point program and serves as the Minister of Education as a UC Berkeley Student. Aoki later helps build the UCB Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA). The BPP establishes chap-ters all over the country, including San Francisco's Bayview/Hunter's Point community and Fillmore District. They also support the building of Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American and Chicano/LatinX organizations rooted in low income communities. 1967 Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black justice on the US Supreme Court. Loving v. Virginia invalidates laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Spring: San Francisco State Black Student Union (BSU) students demand that the Associated Students fund a Black Studies communications project led by Black Arts Movement leader Amiri Baraka (for-merly LeRoi Jones). Dr. Juan Martinez begins building a new College Commitment Program (CCP) in the spring to recruit Third World students at local high schools. Martinez proposes an alliance of Third World student or-ganizations in 1967 to assist with the program. May: 60 students "sit in" in the President's office protesting the college's practice of providing student's academic standing to the Federal Government's Selective Service office for military recruiting purposes for the Vietnam War. June: Students and faculty picket campus administrative offices to protest Chancellor Glenn Dumke's directive to continue providing academic standing records to the Selective Service Office. October: San Francisco State students Pat Salaver, Bob Ilumin, Ronald Quidachay, Orvy Jundis, and Alex Soria form the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) to fight for the rights of Pilipino youth. They organize counseling and tutorial programs, study centers, high school recruitment drives, and Ethnic Studies curricula, and become active in student government. October: Chinese American students like Mason and Al Wong form the Intercollegiate Chinese for So-cial Action (ICSA) to address social, cultural, and community issues. Leaders work as volunteers for Chinatown social service agencies. November: San Francisco State Black Student Union (BSU) students objecting to racism in the campus press protest and assault editor Jim Vaszko on November 7. Six BSU students (Benny Stewart, George Murray, Winston Hearing, Clarence Thomas, Danny L. Glover, and Landon R. Williams) are booked on felony charges and each released on bail. 1968 The Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) requires states to have tribal consent before extending any legal jurisdiction over an Indian reservation. The American Indian Movement (AIM) forms, comprised mainly of urban indigenous youth who believe that direct and militant confrontation with the US government is the only way to redress historical grievances and gain civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, TN. In the wake of his assassination, 125 cities in 29 states experience uprisings, leaving 46 people killed and 35,000 injured in one week alone. The 1968 Civil Rights Act outlaws discrimination in housing rental and sales. Shirley Chisholm of New York becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. The My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam occurs, during which US soldiers of Charlie Company of the 11th Infantry Brigade arrive at the village of My Lai in South Vietnam while on a "search and destroy" mission to root out the 48th Viet Cong Battalion and kill as many as 504 of 700 Vietnamese civilians -- including 119 children 7 years old and younger and 27 in their 70s or 80s. Milton Meyer Company, owner of the International Hotel in San Francisc's Manilatown, applies to demolish the building, mobilizing Asian American activists to prevent the eviction of its elderly Asian residents. Sansei Concern established (a student organization of "sansei" -- 3rd generation Japanese Americans. March 8: The East L.A. Blowouts--over 10,000 students walk out of Lincoln High School protesting poor school conditions. March: Third World Liberation Front formed at San Francisco State College (Black Students Union, Mexican American Student Confederation, Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor, Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action, Asian American Political Alliance, Latin American Students Organization, and American Indian Student Organization). Spring: Prof. Robert Wilson (History) offers experimental course on Japanese American Experience. Summer: Sansei Concern sponsors conference, "Are You Curious Yellow?" at Ackerman Ballroom. July: Charles Young, 36, becomes youngest chancellor in UC history. November 6: San Francisco State Strike begins: longest student strike in U.S. history--167 days. Fall: UCLA administration calls for four "organized research units" at UCLA as a pre-emptive move to avoid ethnic studies strikes at UCLA. The Afro-American Student Union (AASU) submits a proposal for the creation of a Black Studies program "of, by, and for Black people." The Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA), the first Asian American political organization, is created during a convening hosted by Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee at 2005 Hearst Street, Berkeley. November: AAPA sends Asian American delegation to Montreal Hemispheric Conference to End the Vietnam War. November: Students with the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) at San Francisco State begin a five-month strike for a College of Ethnic Studies and other reforms. The TWLF was comprised of the Black Students Union (BSU), the Mexican American Student Confederation (MASC), the Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), the Intercollegiate Chinese for Social Action (ICSA), the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA), the Latin American Students Organization (LASO), and the American Indian Student Organization (AISO). 1969 "Indians of All Tribes" seize the abandoned Alcatraz Island in San Francisco harbor and issue a "Proclamation to the Great White Father," claiming Alcatraz to be suitable as an Indian Reservation and thus should be converted into an Indian educational and cultural center. The Indians of All Tribes continue to occupy Alcatraz until 1971. Asian Americans for Action (Triple A), a multi-generational, anti-imperialist group whose leadership consists mostly of middle-aged Japanese American/Nisei women, is formed in New York City, NY. In addition to organizing study groups and educational forums, they demonstrate against the Vietnam War and advocate for community control of schools. Faced with inadequate housing and schools, as well as rising unemployment, Puerto Rican youth in Chicago form the Young Lords Organization (YLO). An outgrowth of the Young Lords street gang and modeled after the Black Panthers, the YLO becomes a vibrant community organization, creating free breakfast programs for kids and community health clinics. The first Ethnic Studies programs are established at various campuses, including San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara. Programs at other universities also are established on the heels of student protest over the next several years. January 17: Black Panther leaders John Huggins and Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter are killed in a shootout at Campbell Hall after a Black Student Union meeting. January 21: UC Berkeley Third World Strike begins. January: Oriental American Tutorial Project is initiated to tutor and run extra-curricular programs for children at Castellar Elementary School in L.A. Chinatown. Winter: Betty Chen, Duane Kubo, Robert Nakamura and Eddie Wong begin sorting photos in the JARP collection (beginning of Visual Communications). April: Gidra publishes its first issue with subscription rate of 12 issues/year for $2.50. Becomes printed voice of Asian American Movement for the next 5 years. Spring: Asian American students write proposal for the first Asian American Studies course, "Orientals in America." Yuji Ichioka recruited to teach the course. UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) begins officially. Pilipino Graduate Student Association is established by Enrique de la Cruz and other Philippine-born students. Pilipino Cultural Night is pancit and adobo dinner plus slideshow for $2.50. Institute of American Cultures established established, housing the Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Bunche Center for African American Studies, Chicano Studies Research Center and the American Indian Studies Center. Fall: First set of Asian American Studies courses offered after the establishment of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC), including "Orientals in Americ" (Franklin Odo); "Koreans in America" and "Chinese American History" (Linda Shin); "War Relocation Experience" (Joe Grant Masaoka); and "Comparative Analysis of Asian American Community Organizations" (Alan Nishio). Asian American High Potential (Hi-Pot) Tutorial Program starts; members of Black Panther Party, Brown Berets, Yellow Brotherhood and American Indian Movement become UCLA students. Hi-Pot later becomes Academic Advancement Program. January 21: The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) Strike at UC Berkeley begins. January: Asian American Experience/Yellow Identity Conference held at UC Berkeley. Sponsored by Chinese Students Club, Nisei Students Club, and AAPA. The conference is instrumental in forming AAPA chapters nationwide. Jan: Professor Paul Takagi of Criminology and the Board of Educational Development (BED) agree to sponsor an "experimental" class on Asian American history entitled "Asian Studies 100X: Introduction to the Asian Experience in the US", with an enrollment of 120 students. Jan 13: Chancellor Roger W. Heyns and the University of California Regents approve the creation of a Black Studies program, which is rejected by the Afro-American Student Union (AASU) for not meeting its original demands. Jan 21: The UC Berkeley Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), an alliance of the Afro-American Student Union (AASU), the Mexican American Student Confederation (MASC), the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA), and the Native American Student Alliance (NASA), forms to demand self-determination in education through the establishment of a Third World College, inspired by the example of the TWLF at San Francisco State College. Jan 22: The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) launches a student strike, demanding the establishment of a Third World College; the recruitment of Third World people at every level of university administration, instruction, and staff; open admissions for Third World applicants; institutional autonomy ("Third World control over Third World programs"); and amnesty for strikers. Feb 4: Plainclothes officers try to arrest strikers in the middle of a demonstration, leading to pro-Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) students beating back the arresting officers. Twenty are arrested and twenty injured. The police then declare the demonstration an "illegal assembly." Feb 5: The campus administration refuses to allow noon rallies on Sproul Plaza. Both the administration and the police appeal to Governor Ronald Reagan to declare a "state of extreme emergency" on campus so that more police forces can be brought onto campus. Feb: The National Guard is brought onto campus for the first time. Mar 4: UC Berkeley's Academic Senate vows to establish a department of Ethnic Studies on campus comprised of four programs - African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies, and Native American Studies, and structured with "sufficient flexibility to permit evolution into a College." By the end of the first year of the Department's establishment, 4,496 students enroll in Ethnic Studies courses. January 6: The semester recommences and the campus reopens. President Hayakawa continues his ban on meetings and gatherings on campus. Faculty from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) begin their strike with a picket line. About 350 teachers are involved, demanding educational reform, removal of police from the campus, agreement to student demands, and a collective bargaining con-tract for California State College teachers. January 23: The students are bolstered by increased support from Third World communities during a mass community rally but the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) break it up arresting 453 people. The huge financial costs for bail for the nearly 700 total students arrested since the beginning of the strike combined with the pending threat of the administration's disciplinary hearings takes its toll on the TWLF and allied strike organizations and leaders. February: 125 San Francisco State Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) members and community supporters organize a press conference and picket a Community Interest Committee of Ni-honmachi/Japanese American Citizens Alliance dinner featuring President Hayakawa as its keynote speaker. Community leaders Buchanan YMCA Director Yori Wada and Glide Memorial Church Rev. Lloyd Wake help organize the press conference and picket with the student leaders. March 5-14: San Francisco State faculty end their strike and return to work March 5. On March 14, a faculty "select committee" meets with President Hayakawa and begins negotiations with the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF). By this time, most of the TWLF leadership has outstanding warrants out for their arrests and many face felony indictments. March 20: Representatives of the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), the Black Student Union (BSU), and the Select Committee sign an agreement to end the strike. As part of the strike settlement, the Asian American Studies (AAS) Program (later Department) becomes the first AAS program in the nation. March 21: The San Francisco State College Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) announces the end of its strike, the longest in US history. April - August: Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) student organizations, including the Intercolle-giate Chinese Student Association (ICSA), Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), and the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA), with faculty, staff, and community members, draft "position papers" to establish the first departments and the structure of the " School of Ethnic Area Studies" (later changed to College of Ethnic Studies). Within the college, the Asian American General Planning Group (AAGPG) is made up of representatives from each of the three ethnic-specific Area Planning Groups (APG's) - Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese American. The three planning groups develop courses and recruit and hire faculty. The AAGPG is led by Asian American Studies Director Jim Hirabayashi and members include: from AAPA/ Japanese American Planning Group - Penny Nakatsu, Daro Inouye, Kay Nomura, Richard Wada, Masayo Suzuki, and Sharon Uratsu; from ICSA/Chinese American Plan-ning Group- Berwyn Lee, Mason Wong, Alfred Wong, George K. Woo, Eddie Chin, Ben Tong, and Malcolm Collier; and from PACE/Pilipino Planning Group - Ronald Quidachay, Edward de la Cruz, Juanita Tamayo, Ed Ilumin, Francisco Rosario, Daniel Phil Gonzales, and Arika Dacumas. Fall: In its beginning semester Asian American Studies (AAS) offers 17 courses, including pan-Asian American courses like "Asian American Communities and the Urban Crisis" and ethnic-specific ones like "Chinese in America." Asian American student organizations remain central to the planning groups which each wield a level of autonomy within the College, adhere to a community involvement focus, and generally practice a consensus decision-making model of governance. The students in the planning groups work with Anthropology Professor Jim Hirabayashi, who is selected as Director of AAS, and through his Asian American Studies 119 course, "Curriculum and Instruction," build the broader Asian American Studies curricula and pedagogy. 1970 President Richard Nixon signs Public Law 91-550, the first restitution of land to any Indigenous nation, restoring 48,000 acres of the sacred Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo nation. May 4: The Kent State Massacre occurs in the midst of massive student demonstrations against US bombings in Cambodia. Four white Kent State University students are killed and several more are injured when members of the Ohio National Guard open fire during a demonstration protesting US actions the Vietnam War. President Richard Nixon orders the invasion of Cambodia. May 5: The Kent State Massacre occurs in the midst of massive student demonstrations against Nixon's bombings in Cambodia. Four white Kent State University students are killed and several more injured when members of the Ohio National Guard open fire during a demonstration protesting US actions the Vietnam War. UCLA among 450 college campuses that exploded in protests nationwide. 250 LAPD brought onto campus: Steve Tatsukawa, Colin Watanabe, and Ronnie Nakashima physically attacked; American Indian Hi-Pot student shot at and beaten in Campbell Hall. Ron Takaki denied tenure by UCLA History Department; later joins Ethnic Studies faculty at UC Berkeley. Takaki taught the first African American Studies class at UCLA. Passes away in May 2009. June: Angela Davis (asst. prof. of philosophy) fired by the Board of Regents because she is a member of the Communist Party USA. Spring: Due to the hard work of the Area Planning Groups (APGs) and the Asian American General Planning Group (AAGPG), the number of Asian American Studies classes offered grows to 23 classes - including 22 individual courses in a broad range of areas from literature and arts to history and social sciences. Most teachers construct their own reading materials and lesson plans drawing from communi-ty organizations and experience. Spring: The San Francisco State administration attempts to separate the student organizations from the Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino American Area Planning Groups (APG's). By that time, however, the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) and the Intercollegiate Chinese Student Association (ICSA) had diminished their on-campus student activity and only the Philippine American Collegiate Endeav-or (PACE) remained active on campus. The Area Planning Groups (APG) successfully fight to maintain the involvement of community members in the development of the Asian American Studies Depart-ment. Fall: The Asian American General Planning Group (AAGPG) recruits new members into each of the three Area Planning Groups (AGP), but struggles to maintain the department's initial core principles of self-determination, solidarity, and consensus. Asian American Studies course offerings include 11 Chi-nese American courses, 7 Japanese American courses, 11 Pilipino American courses, and 15 Asian American courses. The Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) helps build the first Filipino American Youth Conference in San Francisco. 1970-73: Asian American Studies (AAS) and faculty from other departments like Professor Kenji Murase establish the "Nine Unit Block," a special community-campus program that allows advanced AAS stu-dents to learn while deeply engaging and working in their communities and earn 9 course units of cred-it. The program helps students and faculty actively build organizations and new networks of leaders in the Asian American community. Some of their students include Jeff Mori (Japanese Community Youth Council), Gordon Chin (Chinatown Community Development Center), Steve Nakajo (Kimochi Senior Center), Tom Kim (Korean Community Center), Ed De La Cruz (West Bay Pilipino Services), Fred Lau (San Francisco Police Chief ), and Anita Sanchez (San Francisco Civil Service Commission). January: Everybody's Bookstore opens for business in International Hotel storefront in Manilatown SF. It becomes a center for distributing Asian American books. February: UC Berkeley Asian Studies Field Office (ASFO) is established in the Victory Building located next to the International Hotel in SF Manilatown. By Summer 1970, Asian Community Center replaces ASFO to include students and community members to establish "serve the people" programs in the community. Chinatown Cooperative Garment Factory is established in the basement of the International Hotel. More Asian American movement organizations establish on the I-Hotel block including Asian Draft Help and Legal Services, Kearny Street Workshop, Chinatown-North Beach Youth Council and Chinese Progressive Association. 1971 Six women from North and South Vietnam and Laos meet with 200 women from North America at the Anti-Imperialist Women's Conference in Vancouver, Canada in an effort to end the war. March: Amerasia Journal, first published by Yale Asian American Students Association (Don Nakanishi and Lowell Chun-Hoon, editors). By November, 1971, jointly published with UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC). Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Roots: An Asian American Reader. Goes through 15 printings; became the standard textbook for starting Asian American Studies in college campuses around the country. April: Gidra publishes special issue on and by women. April 16-18: "First National Conference on Asian American Studies held at UCLA. Rep. Patsy Mink is keynote speaker. 1972 The Indian Education Act establishes funding for special bilingual and bicultural programs, culturally relevant teaching materials, and the training and hiring of counselors. It also creates an Office of Indian Education in the US Department of Education. Winter: "Asian Women in America" course is taught for the first time by graduate students May Chen and Karen Ito [Chan]. Samahang Pilipino founded by mostly U.S.-born Pilipinos--Florante Peter Ibanez, Jennifer Masculino, Sheila Tabag Napala and Casimiro Urbano Tolentino. The Philippine American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE) organizes the first PCN (Pilipino Cultural Night) to showcase Pilipino American art and culture build pride, unity, and political awareness, and a foster a deeper understanding of history, culture and the struggle of their communities here and abroad. October: A month after Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law San Francisco State College Pilipino American students support the National Committee for the Restoration of Civil Liberties in the Philippines (NCRCLP). 1973 The Wounded Knee Occupation occurs. AIM leaders, led by Russell Means, and 200 activists take over the village of Wounded Knee for 71 days, announcing the creation of the Oglala Sioux Nation, declaring themselves independent from the US, and defining their national boundaries as those determined by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The National Black Feminist Organization is established to address issues affecting black women within the white female-dominated feminist movement and the male-dominated Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Its first regional conference in New York City attracts 400 women and establishes 10 chapters nationwide. The US and North Vietnam sign a ceasefire agreement. School of Ethnic Studies Dean Jim Hirabayashi proposes alternative criteria for faculty appointments and tenure in Ethnic Studies. He challenges traditional academic criteria, arguing that traditional re-quirements for PhDs or other terminal degrees are both unreasonable and irrelevant to the needs of Ethnic Studies. He proposes six criteria, in order of importance:
1 Professional commitment to Ethnic Studies as an academic discipline. 2 Knowledge of and involvement in the ethnic community. 3 Teaching experience in the content area of Ethnic Studies. 4 Contributions to the development of Ethnic Studies programs. 5 Research and publications in the area of Ethnic Studies. and 6 Formal education in the traditional academic setting. July: Pilipino American student leaders participate in the founding congress of the Union of Democrat-ic Filipinos (KDP) from July 27-28 in the Santa Cruz mountains. Fall: To create a pipeline of permanent Asian American and Ethnic Studies faculty members, the Asian American General Planning Group (AAGPG) recommends that faculty members Dan Begonia and George Woo be hired as "tenure track" faculty for the department. Fall: Members of the Japanese American Area Planning Group challenge consensus decision-making in the department by proposing a more 'top-down' process and the development of more comparative 'Asian American' courses, as opposed to ethnic-specific ones. Asian American radical and revolutionary community organizations like the J-Town Collective and the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) are involved in these intense debates in the department that continue until the Spring of 1975 when the Chinese American Area Planning Group leads a successful effort to formalize the department's existing governance structure and end the conflict. December: San Francisco State's Hiring, Retention, Tenure, and Promotion (HRTP) Committee agrees to develop formal alternative hiring criteria based on Dean Hirabayashi's alternative 6 criteria proposal. The Collins Committee, the first external review committee of the Department of Ethnic Studies chaired by Professor O'Neil Ray Collins of Botany, recommends that faculty be stripped of the power to recommend faculty appointments, each program become an independent department within the College of Letters and Science, the community studies component of the curriculum be reduced or eliminated, and students be removed from participating in decision-making processes. The Ethnic Studies faculty unanimously vote to reject the Collins Committee recommendations. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Reading Room moves to present location at 2230 Campbell. 1974 The year-long Jung Sai Garment Workers' Strike against unfair labor practices occurs in San Francisco, transforming workers and the Chinatown community itself. Lau v. Nichols. The US Supreme Court reaffirms that student access to, or participation in, an educational program cannot be denied because of their inability to speak or understand English. The lawsuit began as a class action by Chinese-speaking students against San Francisco Unified School District. The Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974 makes bilingual education more widely available in public schools. August: Sulong (Onward) Pilipino People's Far West Convention held at UCLA. The UC Berkeley Afro-American Studies Department is established within the College of Letters and Science. San Francisco State College student leaders Warren Mar, Cecil Yoshida, and Victor Huey form the Asian Student Union (ASU) to build awareness, pride, and unity among Asian American students and connect them with community organizations and struggles. Students at Laney College in Oakland and UC Berkeley found ASU chapters as well. The three Area Planning Groups (APGs) help revise and approve the alternative 6-criteria tenure policy in January 1974 and begin using the policy in March to approve the tenure track hiring of Professors Begonia and Woo. 1975 Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, falls to North Vietnamese forces. After a 5-year civil war in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge captures the capital city of Phnom Penh. The US authorizes the entry of 130,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (the “first waveâ€) and makes plans for their settlement in the United States through the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. Congress votes to expand the US Voting Rights Act to require language assistance at polling stations. February: Demonstrations organized by the Student Support Committee for Ethnic Studies result in partial victory in reestablishing classes that CED (Council on Education Development) had rejected. Asian Student Coalition (ASC) established as an umbrella of the diverse Asian Pacific American student groups. ASC is a member of Third World Coalition (Black Student Alliance, Indian American Student Association, MEChA, Foreign Students Association). Asian American Studies Center (AASC) becomes sole publisher of Amerasia Journal. Amerasia remains primary professional journal for Asian American Studies. 1976 The Academic Senate and the University administration create the General Education Council (GEC) and exclude the School of Ethnic Studies and Schools of Business, Education, and Health Physical, Education and Leisure Studies from membership on the GEC. Because the GEC has exclusive power to approve or disapprove General Education (GE) accreditation for individual courses and entire curricular programs this poses a threat since failure to convert courses to the GE Program would cause a significant loss of student enrollment and reduction in faculty positions and potential demise of the College of Ethnic Studies. Asian American Studies decides that its survival depends on the reconstruction of its curriculum to meet the university's "general education" requirements. Asian American Studies Interdepartment Program established to oversee Asian American Studies academic program and course offerings. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Letters in Exile: An Introductory Reader on the History of Pilipinos in America. August: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian America. 1976-78: Bakke v. UC Davis decision challenges affirmative action--creates concern and demonstrations on and off campus. 1977 Residents of the International Hotel are evicted after a nearly decade-long standoff. The defense of the International Hotel had been a major focal point of the Asian American movement in the Bay Area. July-August: Master of Arts program in Asian American Studies established (only such program in the nation/world at the time). First graduate is Dae-Kyun Chung (thesis on "Japan-Born Koreans in the United States"). July: First issue of Crosscurrents published, after the Asian American Studies Center (AASC) newsletter Campbell Scoop gets renamed. July: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian America. Student participation in the Area Planning Groups (APGs) dwindles more and the department becomes faculty and staff-driven. The Asian American Studies (AAS) Department develops a plan for growth and further tenure-track hiring. Students are prohibited from participating directly in hiring of faculty, though they continue to partic-ipate on ethnic-specific planning groups with the exception of hiring and personnel matters. 1978 The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. This landmark decision by the US Supreme Court upholds that the use of race as a criterion in admissions decisions in higher education is constitutionally permissible. Congress passes a joint Congressional Resolution permanently designating May as "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month." Dan Gonzales is elected to serve on the Academic Senate and directed by the Ethnic Studies faculty leadership to se-cure the participation of the School of Ethnic Studies in the revised General Education (GE) Program. The Asian American Studies (AAS) Department totally reconstructs its curriculum, reducing the total number of courses while building more coherent structure to its curriculum. Responding to the attack on Affirmative Action programs and the US Supreme Court's Bakke decision, SF State's Asian Student Union (ASU) helps build the regional West Coast Asian/Pacific Islander Stu-dent Union (APSU) with students from other campuses. APSU works with sister networks on the East Coast and in the Midwest over the next decade on issues such as anti-Asian violence, immigrant rights, redress and reparations for Japanese Americans, and solidarity with other Third World communities. APS's 5 principles of unity are: 1. Promote unity among all Asian/Pacific students 2. Fight against racism and national oppression 3. Support Third World, women's, campus, labor, community and all other progressive struggles 4. Promote understanding of Asian/Pacific people's cultures and histories 5. Build friendship among all Asian/Pacific peoples February: Asian American Studies Graduate Student Association (AASGSA) forms in official affiliation with Asian American Studies Center (AASC). March-April: Pacific Ties launches first issue as the Asian student special interest newsmagazine. April 9-15: "Asian Perspectives" was the first time in UCLA student programming history that a full week of campus wide programs was organized on Asian and Pacific Islander people in America. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors Committee for Asian Week, which included Visual Communications and Asian Coalition. October 3: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) kicks off "Community Class Program" bringing Asian American Studies into the community. 1978-80s: UCLA's affirmative action policy shifts to "diversity admissions"; first introduced in Law School, later used for undergraduate applicants. Students demonstrate. 1979 The United Nations establishes the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) to address the "second wave" of refugees from Southeast Asia. March 28: Congress passes joint Congressional Resolution in 1978 to commemorate Asian American Heritage Week during the first week of May--chosen because 1) the arrival of first Japanese immigrants in America, May 7, 1843; and 2) completion of the transcontinental railroad (by many Chinese laborers) in May 1992. May is permanently designated as "Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month." May: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) joins with 400 groups/individuals to organize demonstration when Senator S. I. Hayakawa speaks at UCLA--protesting his stands on gas crisis, immigration, apartheid in Zimbabwe, and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. Fall: Asian American Public Policy Program (AAPPP) founded to conduct research and disseminate information on major policy issues facing Asian American communities. Program is co-sponsored by Asian American Studies programs at USC and CSU Long Beach, and UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) (AASC). November: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) holds community class entitled "Asian Women in America" taught by Dr. Judy Chu. November 15: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors conference entitled "Visions of California: Asian American Writers, 1929-1979." Panelists: Wakako Yamauchi, Al Robles, Janice Mirikitani, Hisaye Yamamoto, Frank Chin and Jeff Chan, with honored guest Toshio Mori (The Chauvinist and Other Stories, Asian American Studies Center (AASC)Press, 1979); Ishmael Reed and Russell Leong co-moderators. 1980 Congress passes the Refugee Act which creates a comprehensive system for the admission of refugees and significantly slows their entry into the US from Southeast Asia. February 29 - March 2: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Office of Education-Women's Educational Act Program, Calif. Office of the Governor, Calif. Commission on Status of Women, and University of Southern California co-host first Asian/Pacific Women's West Coast regional conference, funded by Office of Education Through Educational Design. Over 700 API women from California attend. Winter-Spring: Vietnamese Students Association (VSA) start the Refugee Aid Committee, working with new Vietnamese refugee families in the Palms and Culver City area. Fall: Yu Renqiu is first Peoples Republic of China (PRC) student admitted to Asian American Studies Masters' Program. The second external review committee, chaired by Professor William Brinner of Near Eastern Studies, concludes the Department of Ethnic Studies and its four programs (Asian American Studies, Chicano Studies, Native American Studies, and the newly established undergraduate Comparative Ethnic Studies) to be a valuable intellectual asset to the campus and recommends the creation of a new Division of Ethnic Studies within the College of Letters and Science. The Asian American admissions controversy on campus leads to the establishment of the Asian Ameri-can Task Force on University Admissions (AATFUA), which charges the university administration with secretly changing several admissions criteria and procedures targeting Asian American applicants in the entering class of 1984 without public knowledge and authorization and led to a significant 21% drop in Asian American enrollment at UC Berkeley between 1983 and 1984. After five years of legislative hear-ings, state auditing, and faculty investigations which uncover wrong-doing with respect to UC Berkeley Asian American admissions policies, Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman reverses the changes and apolo-gizes publicly. The Asian American Studies (AAS) Department has five tenured or tenure-track faculty members, in-cluding Professors Dan Begonia, Jeff Chan, Daniel Phil Gonzales, James Okutsu and George Woo. AAS now offers 57 courses holding General Studies accreditation: 18 Chinese American area courses, 10 Japanese American area courses, 17 Pilipino American courses, and 12 pan-Asian American courses. The Asian American Studies (AAS) Department dissolves the three ethnic-specific Planning Groups and the larger col-lege General Planning Group, reduces students and community leaders to advisory roles, and functions like a traditional faculty decision-making body. The department agrees to shift Chinese (Cantonese) and Pilipino language courses to the Foreign Language Department. 1980-85: While new Korean and Vietnamese/Southeast Asia American courses are offered there is an unfortu-nate reduction of the large number of ethnic-specific courses. 1981 An ad hoc Executive Committee reviews and recommends not to follow-up on the recommendations of the Brinner Report. The College of Ethnic Studies secures representation on the General Education Council (GEC) and participation in the newly revised General Education (GE) Program with GE accredited courses in all four original departments. Asian American Studies has one of the highest number of GE accredited courses of any department in the University. January: Inauguration of Ronald Reagan as the 40th president of the United States. Spring: First issue of South Asian Bulletin is published by South Asian Association at UCLA. Spring: Sam Law becomes first Asian American undergraduate student body president at UCLA. Fall: Student representatives are formally represented on the Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Coordinating Committee, who have voting responsibilities on specific matters concerning the Center. October 10-11: The first Tongan American Unity Conference held. Active support provided by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Asian/Pacific Women's Network, and the L.A. County Dept. of Social Services. November: UCLA Law School proposes to eliminate Asian American background as a basis for "diversity" in Law School Admissions. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) urges Admission Committee to continue inclusion of underrepresented Asian Americans in affirmative action. 1982 May Chen, of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, leads the New York Chinatown strike of 1982, one of the largest Asian American worker strikes. Ronald Ebens and Michael Nitz beat Chinese American Vincent Chin to death with a baseball bat in Detroit, blaming "Japs" for the loss of Detroit auto industry jobs. Spring: Class on the Pilipino American Experience offered in community by Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA). June 19: Vincent Chin beaten to death with baseball bats in Detroit (a Chinese American mistaken for Japanese). 1983 Winter: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) establishes Community Advisory Board: Cas Tolentino (Chair), Nam Hau Doan Thi, Michael Eng, Miya Iwataki, Jane Kim, Patrick Ogawa, Carol Ono, Edmund Soohoo, and Tupe Sua. Spring: International Women's Day roundtable conference, dinner and evening of performances--entitled "Third World Feminism: Different Only in Kind or Also in Content." Spring: Proposals to rewrite UC Student Affirmative Action Five-Year Plan exclude Pilipinos from underrepresented populations. April: Vincent Chin's murderers are acquitted from manslaughter charges. June 18: First Asian Pacific Graduation at UCLA in Kerckhoff Patio. October 25: U.S. invasion of Grenada to depose the Marxist regime. 1984 March 19: Pilipino Affirmative Action Conference cosponsored by Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Samahang Pilipino, and Asian Coalition in response to UC proposal to remove Pilipinos from the UC Affirmative Action Five-Year Plan. May 22: Exclusive premier of George Lucas' Raiders of the Lost Ark with proceeds to support Chinatown Teenpost, Central City Action Committee, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), and other Asian and Pacific Islander community organizations. June 1-2: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors a conference "The Korean American Community in the 1980s: Emerging Issues, Changing Responses." Black-Korean relations in Los Angeles and New York discussed. June 9: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors program entitled "Breaking Silences" to educate the community about three on-going sexual harassment cases of Asian American women. Spring-Summer: Pilipinos are reinstated in UC Affirmative Action Plan until 1986. August 5: Asian Pacific Americans for Nuclear Awareness (APANA) hold "Survival Day 84"--commemorate U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and receive Hiroshima Memorial's peace flame (first time to leave Japan). Summer: UC Davis' Asian American Studies threatened with elimination or move away from its community-based programs. October 26-28: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) hosts the Association for Asian American Studies biannual national conference. The focus is "Community: The Roots of Asian American Studies." December 1: Forty students and staff from UCLA take a field trip to Agbayani Village, CA farmworker retirement community. 1985 The first doctoral program in Ethnic Studies in the nation is created at UC Berkeley. 1985-90: Asian American Studies (AAS) experiences a rapid increase in enrollment and now offers a cohesive, stable curriculum, fully integrated into the University's General Education (GE) requirements with a larger enrollment of students taking AAS classes. But, because of the new GE accreditation criteria, many ethnic-specific courses are phased out while pan-Asian American courses increase. Marlon Hom denied promotion to Associate Professor at UCLA. Dr. Hom taught many courses in Asian American Studies. March 4-8: UCLA coalition declares Women's Week to celebrate International Women's Day. Coalition includes: AFSCME, La Raza Women, African Activists Assn., Asian Coalition, Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Gay and Lesbian Assn., Women's Resource Center, Women's Studies Ctr., International Students Ctr., Student Committee for Arts, and others. Asian American Studies Center (AASC), along with the Korean Students Assn., launch petition drive for Korean language courses at UCLA. July 26: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and National Asian American Telecommunications Assn. (NAATA) co-host three day National Asian American Media Arts Conference. Approximately 200 Asian & Pacific American film makers, producers, performers, and writers from New York, Boston, Honolulu, and Seattle attend. Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s Pilipino Research Project conduct a survey of Pilipino organizations in Los Angeles to study the role of voluntary associations in the Los Angeles Pilipino community, what types of organizations exist, what their activities are, and how they serve the community. 1986 Congress approves the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), legalizing certain undocumented workers, including agricultural workers. The Act also creates employer sanctions, making it illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers. The Black-Korean Alliance (BKA) is established in response to tensions between the two communities in Los Angeles. It would disband in 1992. January 20: Martin Luther King Day is officially observed for the first time. February 22-25: The People Power Revolution in the Philippines sends Pres. Marcos into exile. Two million people took to the streets of metropolitan Manila to force change. Pacific Island Student Association (PISA) established at UCLA. March 5: Asian Coalition and Asian Pacific American Law Students Assn. (APALSA) so-spnsor forum "Equal in the Eyes of the Law: Asian Pacific American Women Attorneys" where lawyers of different backgrounds spoke about barriers minority women professionals face. May 2-4: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Asian Coalition co-hosted Asian Pacific Student Conference: students and community leaders explore Career, Community, and Consciousness. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) creates UCLA Asian Pacific American Voter Registration Project, strengthening relations between Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and the Pilipino American community. Fall: UCLA East Asian Languages and Cultures Department offered a Korean language class for the first time. November: Proposition 63: "English Only" initiative is passed. 1987 HR 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1987, is passed and becomes law the following year. Among its provi-sions is restitution to survivors of Japanese ancestry who were incarcerated during WWII. A retrial for the killing of Vincent Chin finds Ronald Ebens innocent on all counts, prompting outrage and organizing among Asian Americans. An earlier civil rights trial had acquitted Nitz. June: UCLA administration denies Dr. Don Nakanishi tenure in the Graduate School of Education. Nakanishi tenure battle begins with Campbell Hall vigil. American Indian Studies Center and Asian American Studies Center (AASC) refuse administration's proposal to move from Campbell Hall to Haines Hall due to Native American remains and artifacts held in the proposed building for relocation. Fall: Warren Furutani takes leave of absence from Asian American Studies Center (AASC) as Student Community Projects coordinator to organize his campaign to run for Los Angeles City Board of Education, Seventh District. He became the first Asian American to serve on L.A.'s Board of Education. March 25-26: National Association of Asian American Studies Conference at Washington State University. 1988 Dr. Don T. Nakanishi of the School of Education faces a second new tenure review after his first tenure appeal was denied, despite his overwhelming qualifications. May 10-22: 3rd Annual Asian Pacific American International Film Festival co-sponsored by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC), UCLA Film & TV Archives, Visual Communications, and Mayor's Asian Pacific American Heritage Week Committee. It was an eight-day event at UCLA'S Melnitz Hall. May 21: Students from "Contemporary Issues in Asian American Communities" class take field trip to Carson for tour of Samoan community. Yuji Ichioka, founding member of the Center, and Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s adjunct history professor, publishes: The Issei: The World of First Generation Japanese Immigrants 1885-1924, (New York: The Free Press). Pilipinos removed from "underrepresented" students eligible for affirmative action at UCLA. Pilipino enrollment drops by 31%. Fall: Asian Pacific Alumni (APA-UCLA) approved as official support group under UCLA Alumni Assn. Founding Executive Committee: Hon. Ernest Hiroshige, Steward Kwoh, Karen Umemoto, Cas Tolentino, Vivian Matsushige, and Michael Ning. 1989 Led by university students, over 1 million Chinese in Tiananmen Square demand reforms by the Chi-nese Communist government. The "American Cultures" breadth requirement is created at UC Berkeley, designed to teach all under-graduate students how the diversity of America's constituent cultural traditions have shaped and contin-ue to shape American identity and experience. March 10: 100 UCLA students join 7000 person march to Sacramento to demand quality education. Asian American and Pacific Islander students lobbied state legislators on tenure for Professor Don Nakanishi and affirmative action for Pilipino students. May: Following campus, community, and political mobilization, Professor Don Nakanishi wins tenure battle and was promoted to Associate Professor in the UCLA Graduate School of Education. October 26: UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) joins over forty Asian American and Pacific Islander social service organizations to organize the first APA Community Research Roundtable together with the Asian Pacific Planning Council. Bruce Yamashita, Hawaii-born Marine reserve and lawyer, is "disenrolled" (removed) from U.S. Marines Officers Candidate School two days before he was to graduate. He later won his appeal, relying on research of Dr. David Takeuchi (Psychology, UCLA School of Medicine), and Dr. Stanley Sue (Psychology, Director of National Research Center on Asian American Mental Health at UCLA), both professors of Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s Faculty Advisory Board. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Okinawan Club of North America jointly publishes History of the Okinawans in North America, translated by Ben Kobashigawa and edited by Russell Leong. 1990 The Native American Languages Act makes it US policy to "preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages." Iraq invades Kuwait. Don Nakanishi becomes UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) director. U.S. Office of Civil Rights finds anti-Asian bias in UCLA's Department of Math graduate program. Under Prof. Edna Bonacich, graduate students (including law and Asian Am. Studies) conduct study on low wage Asian garment workers in LA. 1991 A third external review committee, chaired by Professors Carol Stack of Education and Gwen Kirkpat-rick of Spanish and Portuguese, recommends additional faculty positions for the UC Berkeley Depart-ment of Ethnic Studies, as well as an organized research unit (ORU) and a new facility for its library. UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Public Policy Project established by Paul Ong with Tania Azores and Phil Okamoto. Burning Cane Asian American Literary Magazine established at UCLA. Spring: After student initiated effort, first class on Pacific Island Studies is offered, taught by Don Nakanishi with UCLA student Sepa Sete. October 26: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) hosts first conference on "Status of Middle Eastern and Asian Pacific Islander Women in Southern California." Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) receives $100,000 Chancellor's Grant for educational and cultural events marking the 50th anniversary of Japanese American incarceration during World War II. 1992 Los Angeles riots erupt on April 29, following the acquittal of Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist, Rodney King. Korean-owned businesses are targeted. February 15-March 1: UCLA Wight Art Gallery features "Executive Order 9066" and "Manzanar: A Selection of Photographs by Ansel Adams," curated by Karin Higa, sponsored by Asian American Studies Center (AASC), California Historical Society, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Japanese American National Museum, and UCLA Wight Art Gallery. February 15-October 12: 50th Anniversary of Japanese American WWII incarceration events include: Civil Rights Conference, Nikkei Student Union Cultural Night, and book event for The View from Within: Japanese American Art from the Internment Camps, 1942-1945. Fall: Approval of Three year Tagalog Language Program initiated by the student-based Asian Pacific Languages and Cultures Committee. April 29-May 2: Los Angeles Uprisings--UCLA students establish Korean American United Students for Education and Service (KAUSES). They help with community clean-up and host educational programs on interracial issues. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) is a founding member of Asian Pacific Americans for a New Los Angeles, represented by Meg Thornton. Active faculty in community rebuilding efforts: Ailee Moon and Jim Lubben (Social Welfare); Paul Ong (Urban Planning); and Kyeyoung Park (Anthropology). Asian American Studies Center (AASC) offers course "Asian Pacific Americans and Urban Unrest," taught by Asian American Studies Center (AASC) alum Prof. Edward Chang and Jae Lee Wong of L.A. County Human Relations Commission. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and UCLA Labor Center publish Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Farmworkers and the Farmworkers Movement. Spring: Mari Matsuda, first Asian American granted tenure in UCLA Law School; Valerie Matsumoto, first Asian American woman granted tenure in UCLA History Department. Summer: UCLA/University of Hawaii, Manoa joint Summer Program begins. Fall: East West Players donates archives to Asian American Studies Center (AASC). 1993 Spring: Student strike for Chicana/o Studies, resulting in Cesar Chavez Dept. of Chicana/o Studies. Asian American faculty, Center staff, and students support the strike. KAUSES chair arrested for participating in May sit-in at Faculty Center. April 26-30: Week long series of educational events hosted following the LA uprisings. Coordinating student organizations include KAUSES, Raza Women, Asian Pacific Coalition, Dance Alliance, Latin American Student Association and others. November: Pilipino American Graduate Student Association, Asian Pacific Coalition, Asian American Studies Center (AASC), and Committee for Pilipino American Studies hosts event on the exploitation of Pilipinas during WWII. November: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Pacific Islander Student Association host Hawaiian sovereignty scholar-activist Haunani-Kay Trask for campus visit and talk. 1994 President Clinton signs into law the largest federal crime bill in US history, including massive expan-sion of death penalty crimes and prison construction. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed on January 1 between Mexico, Canada, and the United States, eliminating most tariffs and other regulations viewed as "trade barriers" between these nations. NAFTA would fail to deliver on this promise, resulting in stagnating and declining work-er protections everywhere. California voters pass Proposition 184, the nation's toughest mandatory sentencing law. California voters pass Proposition 187, denying undocumented immigrants public services like educa-tion and healthcare. Operation Gatekeeper marks massive increases in US Border Patrol spending, militarizing the US-Mexico border. The Asian Pacific American Education Advisory Committee of the Chancellor's Office recognizes the Department of Asian American Studies (AAS) at San Francisco State University as an "exemplary" pro-gram. Spring: Language programs approved for Hindi, Thai, and Vietnamese under the effort of the student-initiated Asian Pacific Languages and Culture Committee. Spring: Concerned Asian Pacific Students for Action (CAPSA), Korean American United Students for Education and Service (KAUSES) and Asian Pacific Coation (APC) staffers join protests and boycotts of Jessica McClintock boutiques, challenging the use of sweatshop labor. Fall: Asian American Studies BA Program established. Fall: Dr. Harry Kitano, former Asian American Studies Center (AASC) director, retires. Provost and Dean of the College of Letters & Science Carol Christ decides to move the Department of Ethnic Studies, which had reported to the Office of the Chancellor since its founding in 1969, into the College of Letters & Science Division of Social Sciences to become a Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, with consolidated management and staffing for all of its programs--thereby weakening the autonomies and identities of its four programs. 1995 Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500. McVeigh had rightwing ideological roots in the Patriot and Neo-Nazi movements. February 26: Yuri Kochiyama gives talk entitled "Black/Asian Interactions through History" at Museum of Tolerance, part of 25th Anniversary of Asian American Studies Center (AASC) events. Winter: Los Angeles Times article by K. Connie Kang proclaims significance of "Asian American Social Movements" class for bringing Asian American Studies into the community. Taught by Amerasia Journal associate editor, Glenn Omatsu, students helped immigrant workers form a union at the New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo. August 2: California Dept. of Industrial Relations leads raid on El Monte sweatshop where seventy-two Thai immigrant workers were held in captivity to work in slave-like conditions. The Thai workers' court case set precedent for legislative/policy changes on immigration, civil rights, and employer liability. September 14: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) celebrates 25th anniversary; Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano is the keynote speaker and receives the UCLA Medal--the university's highest accolade. Campbell Hall 3rd floor mural also unveiled. UCLA hosts first annual Pilipino Studies Conference. 1996 California voters approve Proposition 209, ending the use of affirmative action in public higher educa-tion, employment, and contracting. Congress passes the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), which create new forms of punishment like mandatory detention; vastly expand the definition of "aggravated felony" under immigration law, mak-ing people deportable for crimes that carry sentences of one year or more; apply new criminal depor-tation provisions retroactively; and eliminate judicial review in criminal deportation cases. Fall: The Department of Asian American Studies (AAS) establishes the Vietnamese American Studies Center. January 29: Former UCLA student leader, Thien Minh Ly (president of Vietnamese Student Assn. 1992-93) murdered in hate crime while rollerblading at Tustin High School. Steve Louie donates his Asian American Movement archives to Asian American Studies Center (AASC): Wei Min newspapers, Gidra, student newsletters, buttons, early newspapers of Asian American Political Alliance (UC Berkeley). May 18: Royal (Uncle Roy) Morales' Retirement Party hosted by Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Pilipino Alumni Association of UCLA, and UCLA Alumni Association. "Uncle Roy" retired from 20 years as lecturer for "Pilipino American Experience" course. Proceeds from event established "Royal Morales Prize in Pilipino American Studies at UCLA." Fall: Anti-Martial Law Movement Special Collection, Part I donated to Asian American Studies Center (AASC). Fall: Asian Pacific Coation join UCLA students to mobilize against Prop. 209, a bill prohibiting public institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity. The bill was passed into law November 5, 1996. October: Professor Julie Roque passes away. Roque was a member of Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s Faculty Advisory Committee, co-founder of UCLA Pollution Prevention Education and Research Center and professor of urban planning. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Dept. of Urban Planning create Julie Roque Award for Environmental Justice. Fall: Center receives $100,000 grant from California Wellness Foundation to study Asian American youth violence. Fall: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and University of Hawaii Press collaborate in news series "Intersections: Transcultural Asian & Pacific American Studies." Series Editor is Russell C. Leong, editor of Amerasia Journal. 1997 The Department of Asian American Studies (AAS) Bachelor of Arts (BA) Program is established. Fall: Shingly Lee becomes first Hmong Director of Asian Pacific Coalition. Septmber 11-13: UCLA holds historic conference to bring together all those who participated in the movement to gain redress and reparations for Japanese Americans for WWII internment. Conference organizers include Professors Harry Kitano and Mitch Maki of Social Welfare and Asian American Studies and Megan Berthold. October 30-December 22: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and UCLA Powell College Library collaborate for the only Los Angeles showing of Smithsonian traveling exhibit, "A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution." Exhibit focuses on World War II internment of Japanese Americans and their later successful struggle to gain redress and reparations. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) republished Executive Order 9066: The Internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans, whose photos comprise the exhibit. Fall: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) announces new undergraduate Minor in Asian American Studies. 1998 Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Dept. of Urban Planning offer new graduate course "Communities in Transition: Asian Pacific Americans and Community Economic Development," taught by Prof. Paul Ong. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) acquires Yuri Kochiyama collection. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) establishes Joint Master's Degree Program in Public Health and Asian American Studies. 1999 Taiwanese-American scientist Wen Ho Lee is arrested on suspicion of spying for China and is placed in solitary confinement. Based on lack of any evidence of espionage, the government would later drop 58 of its 59 charges against Lee. Apr 14: Students occupy the entrance to Barrows Hall to demand more funding and faculty for Ethnic Studies programs, an Ethnic Studies Research Center, a Multicultural Community Center, student partic-ipation in the decision-making process in Ethnic Studies programs, and no punishment for students who have been arrested. After a 10-hour occupation, police arrest and cite 43 students. Apr 23: Students begin a hunger strike in front of California Hall in support of Ethnic Studies. On the fifth day of the strike, the Chancellor Robert Berdahl orders the police to move in and arrest 80 stu-dents. May 7: All-day negotiations between protest leaders, faculty, and administration result in an agreement which includes: the creation of eight new faculty positions within the next five years, financial support to start a research center, financial support to sustain the curricular offerings of the department, a mul-ticultural student center and a space for a wall mural, additional financial support for student recruit-ment, and leniency for students arrested. A committee made up mainly of Ethnic Studies faculty and chaired by Professor Robert Brentano of History is appointed to implement this agreement over the next ten years. The Department of Asian American Studies (AAS) Master of Arts (MA) Program is established. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Korean American community organizations organize the first Korean American Studies Conference. Spring: Prof. Robert Nakamura named to Endowed Chair in Japanese American Studies at UCLA. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) affiliates receive Civil Liberties Public Education Fund grants for research on World War II internment of Japanese Americans. Rsearchers includ Profs. Harry Kitano, Mitch Maki, Jerry Kang, Bob Nakamura and MA students Leslie Ito and Susan Nakaoka. August 10: Filipino American Joseph Ileto murdered by white supremacist in San Fernando Valley, California. October 3: UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Young Research Library Dept. of Special Collections acquire Fred T. Korematsu Litigation Collection, a landmark legal and civil rights case on the constitutionality of the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. October-November: A Magazine names Don Nakanishi, Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Director, and Russell C. Leong, Amerasia Journal senior editor, to list of "100 Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade." Fall: NVM Gonzales appointed UC Regents Professor. December: Wen Ho Lee, Taiwanese scientist who worked for Los Alamos National Laboratory, is indicted by a federal grand jury for stealing secrets about U.S. nuclear arsenal for the People's Republic of China. In June 2006, Lee receives $1.6 million from federal government and news organizations for leaking his name to the press before charges were filed. Judge James A. Parker apologized to Lee for government misconduct in his case. 2000 California voters pass Proposition 21, which expands criminal punishments of youth offenders, ex-pands the definition of gang affiliation, and allows children as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults. AANCART, the first ever national cancer prevention and control research initiative funded by the National Cancer Institute specifically targeting Asian Americans. LA AANCART is housed at UCLA and led by Profs. Roshan Bastani and Marjorie Kagawa Singer, both of the Center Faculty Advisory Committee. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) awarded major gant to set up Geriatric Healthcare Clearinghouse and Collaborative Network. Fall: Nation's first Korean American Studies Academic Chair established. 2001 On Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda militants carry out attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, NY and the Pentagon just outside of Washington, DC, triggering rampant profiling, surveillance, and threats to the lives of Muslims and people perceived to be Muslim. Congress passes the USA Patriot Act, vastly expanding the powers of law enforcement and ushering in a new era of racial profiling, immigrant detentions, and deportations. Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales founds Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP), an ethnic studies educational pipeline that creates partnerships and projects that work toward social justice. January 23: Uncle Roy Morales passes away (pioneering social worker, taught Pilipino American Experience class for numerous years). September 29: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Asian Americans: The Movement and The Moment chronicling the 1960s-70s Asian American Movement that gave birth to Asian American Studies in U.S. universities. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) organized a one-day teach-in of over 300 people to share historical lessons from the Asian American Movement. October 6: Center celebrates 32nd Anniversary, themed "Millennium Legacies and Tributes" with special guest of honor C.K. Yang, along with Rafer Johnson. Other honorees were Jae Min Chang, Assemblywoman Judy Chu, and Dr. Pham Cao Duong. The UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender Studies (CRG) is established. 2002 January 20: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) hosts book launch of Helen Zia's My Country Versus Me, Wen Ho Lee's account of his arrest and imprisonment by the FBI and federal government under false accusations that he was a spy for the People's Republic of China at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. May 11-12: UCLA's four ethnic studies centers hold symposium on reparations and redress entitled, "The Struggle for Social Justice." Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Asian Americans on War & Peace to respond to the issues surrounding the one year anniversary of 9/11. April 6: Nobu McCarthy passes away. Pioneering Japanese American actress, she taught Asian American Theater course for Asian American Studies Center (AASC) for ten years. May 11: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) hosts National Korean American Studies Conference entitled "10 Years After the 1992 Civil Unrest": organized by Prof. Kyeyoung Park, Prof. Ailee Moon, and AsianAmerican Studies MA student Susie Woo. Keynote speaker is K.W. Lee, noted journalist and Asian American Studies Center (AASC) lecturer for "Investigative Journalism in Third World Communities." May 28: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, and Taiwanese Environmental Action Network co-sponsor talk by members of the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees who began organizing in 1998 for a justice campaign for thousands of former RCA factory workers who developed cancer. RCA shut down their Taiwan plant leaving a huge cancer cluster of pollution while refusing to be accountable for its actions. Spring: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Asian Pacific America History Collective host "Pacific Studies Workshop Series" with Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman, Vicente Diaz, Damon Salesa, and J. Kehaulani Kauanui. September 1: Prof. Yuji Ichioka passes away (coined the term "Asian American" in the late 60s, leading expert on Issei/Japanese American history, taught first Asian American Studies class at UCLA, Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s resident researcher). October 19: Prof. Emeritus Harry H.L. Kitano passes away (leading authority on race/ethnic relations contemporary Japanese/Asian American experiences, served as Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s interim/acting director many times). Fall: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes Open: One Woman's Journey by attorney Angela E. Oh. Center for EthnoCommunications establishes Downtown Community Media Center. 2003 An estimated 10-15 million people in hundreds of cities around the world participate in coordinated protests against the imminent US invasion of Iraq. By several accounts, it is the largest mass protest in world history. February 18: UCLA ethnic studies centers hold town hall on Faculty Diversity Initiative. February 28: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) hosts 2003 Asian Pacific American Community Research Roundtable, cosponsored with the Asian Pacific Planning Council. Spring: Together with Prof. Paul Ong as senior editor, Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Press launches AAPI Nexus: Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy, Practice, and Community. May 2-3: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Asian American Studies Graduate Students Association (AASGSA), and ASUCLA Waiver Pool cosponsor conference, entitled "The Indian Diaspora and Its Cultural Politics," organized by Prof. Vinay Lal. May 24: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) holds first annual conference on Health in AAPI Communities entitled "Myth or Model: Health in Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities," organized by Profs. Marjorie Kagawa-Singer and Ninez Ponce, both of UCLA School of Public Health and Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s Faculty Advisory Committee. Pacific Ties publishes 25th Anniversary edition with a history of Campbell Hall. August 30-September 3: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) co-sponsors historic "Colorlines" conference with Harvard Civil Rights Project. 2004 February 6: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Asian Pacific Coalition co-sponsor talk by Prof. Bill Hing of UC Davis (Law and Asian American Studies) about deportations of Cambodians from U.S. back to Cambodia. April 17: Assn. for Hmong Students organize the first UCLA Hmong studies conference entitled "Giving Voice to Hmong-American Experience: Creating Dialogue, Creating Change." June 6-August 1: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Fowler Museum, Filipino American Library (LA), Wells Fargo Foundation, and Filipino American National Historical Society (LA) cosponsor "Through My Father's Eyes: The Filipino American Photographs of Ricardo Ocreto Alvarado" exhibit at UCLA Fowler Museum. April: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) releases Yuri Kochiyama's memoir Passing It On, which receives Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for 2004. Famed social justice activist spent a year at Asian American Studies Center (AASC) writing her memoir. May 24: Asian American Studies Graduate Student Association's annual educational and arts event, "SubVerses," focuses on Cambodian deportations. Spring: George and Sakaye Aratani Chair in Japanese American Internment, Redress, and Community established at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC). June 20: Asian America Studies Department holds first departmental commencement ceremony of Bachelor of Arts majors/minors and Master of Arts graduates in Asian American Studies. Keynote address by Glenn Omatsu (CSU Northridge and former Amerasia Journal Associate Editor) is entitled "Unfinished Tasks for Asian American Studies." October 12: Asian American Studies Inter-Departmental Program originally housed at the Asian American Studies Center (AASC) becomes an independent department within the College of Social Sciences. October 16: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), CSU Northridge Center for Academic Preparedness, and Amerasia Journal hold interactive conference entitled "Learn By Doing: Education Towards Humanization," showcasing new teaching/learning methods that bring college and community together. Keynote speaker is Professor Manulani Aluli Meyer of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. November 5-6: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), University of North Carolina School of Law, and Japanese American National Museum cosponsor national conference entitled "Judgments Judged and Wrongs Remembered: Examining Japanese American Civil Liberties Cases of World War II on their 60th Anniversary." 2005 Hurricane Katrina, the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico, devastates New Orle-ans and the Gulf Coast, killing 1,800 people and displacing 600,000 households. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice, and equality, urges nonviolent pressure on Israel until it complies with international law by meeting three demands: ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194. February 17: UCLA's four ethnic studies centers hold town hall on Faculty Diversity Initiative that was proposed to Chancellor Albert Carnesale in 2003. May 11: Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Graduate Students Association (GSA), Pilipino American GSA, and School of Public Affairs--Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus, co-sponsor talk by Bob Santos, author of Hum Bows Not Hot Dogs! Memoirs of a Savvy Asian American Activist. Santos led a grassroots movement in the 1970s and 80s to rescue the Seattle Chinatown/International District from decay to a new sense of community. May 28-29: Nikkei Student Union renames annual basketball tournament "Yuji Ichioka Memorial Annual Basketball Tournament" in honor of the late Asian American Studies Center (AASC) founder. April 7: UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, Native Nations Law and Policy Center, Chicana/o Studies Research Center, Ralph J. Bunch Center for African American Studies, and Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsor talk by John Trasvina, Western States Regional Director, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, entitled "Civil Rights in a Changing California: Researching to Fight Discrimination." June 24-25: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) holds first in series of international writers' workshops in honor of the late Filipino American writer NVM Gonzalez. July: Asian American Studies Center (AASC)'s website records its quarter-millionth unique visitor while receiving over a million hits from repeat visitors. October 15: UC Office of the President, UCLA's Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, Department of Public Policy, Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and UC Asian American/Ethnic Studies Departments at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz hold interactive workshop entitled "Strengthening the AAPI Policy Infrastructure: Community-Based Research, Teaching, and Advocacy." The workshop was part of the UC AAPI Policy Initiative--a multi-campus proposal seeking to have positive impact on public policies affecting nearly five million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California. Enrique Delacruz, Sr. and Eleazar Abarquez Endowment for Filipino American Studies established by Prof. Enrique Delacruz and Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz to support archival preservation of Filipino American experience in the U.S., particularly progressive community building and the Filipiino American Library Collection at UCLA. 2006 February 25: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors benefit dinner entitled "Isang Gabing Maalaala: A Night to Remember," to establish Filipino Legacy Fund, an endowment to support Filipino American and Filipino Studies at UCLA. July 1: Dr. Keith Camacho appointed as first Pacific Islander tenure-track faculty in UCLA Department of Asian American Studies and the UC system. George and Sakaye Aratani Pledge $1 Million Community Advancement Research Endowment at Asian American Studies Center (AASC) to ensure permanent partnership between Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and the Japanese American community. Prof. Harry H.L. Kitano Endowment established. Enrique Delacruz, Sr. and Eleazar Abarquez Endowment for Filipino American Studies established. April 22: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) sponsors celebration of Yuji Ichioka's posthumous publication Before Internment: Essays in Prewar Japanese American History. Event also commemorated renaming of UCLA Japanese American Research Project (JARP) to UCLA Alumni and Friends of Japanese Ancestry Endowed Chair in Japanese American Studies. May 13: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) and Asian Pacific American Legal Center co-sponsor "The First Asian American Writers Congress." Noted APA authors, publishers, and community leaders gather to set groundwork for Asian Pacific American Book Festival in Los Angeles. Filipino American Library Collection of the Filipino American Heritage Institute donated to UCLA to be processed by Asian American Studies Center (AASC). Anti-Martial Law Movement Special Collection, Part II donated to UCLA. Summer: DAAS moves to Rolfe Hall. 2007 The UC Berkeley Multicultural Community Center (MCC) is established. Fall: UC Asian American Policy Initiative Multicampus Research Program established and housed at Asian American Studies Center (AASC) with Paul Ong as first director. Fall: Count Me In Campaign succeeds; UC will now disaggregate the "Asian Pacific Islander" category. Pan-Asian Queers (PAQ) established. Dr. Tritia Toyota joins Asian American Studies Center (AASC) staff for Research and Special Projects. November 16: UC AAPI Multi-Campus Research Program, based at Asian American Studies Center (AASC), holds conference entitled "Out of the Margins: AAPIs and Educational Equity." Keynote speaker is Assemblyman Mike Eng (49th District). UCOP Vice President for Student Affairs, Judy Sakaki, announced UCs adding new categories for AAPI groups to more accurately portray educational disparities between different AAPI communities, in response to student-initiated campaign "Count Me In!" to demand disaggregated data of AAPI groups. 2008 Barack Obama becomes the first black president of the United States. Professor Isabelle Thuy Pelaud and University of Southern California (USC) Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen launch the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) to promote artists from the Viet-namese diaspora whose work in literature, visual arts, film, and performance art "enriches our commu-nities and strengthens ties between Vietnamese across the globe." Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes The Other Indians, by UCLA History Professor Vinay Lal. Shirley and Walter Wang, and UCLA Asian American Studies Center (AASC), establish the nation's first Endowed Chair in U.S.-China relations and Chinese American Studies to educate the American public and policy makers about U.S.-China relations and Chinese Americans. The Wangs donate $1 million to Asian American Studies Center (AASC) for this effort. Spring: Undocumented student advocacy group IDEAS (Improving Dreams, Education, Access, and Success) inducted into APC. Organizations work together for passage of DREAM Act. Asian American and Pacific Island Studies Undergraduate Student Association (APIUA) established. May: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes U.S.-China Media Brief on eve of Beijing Olympics for balanced views of U.S. and China. Media Brief is accompanied by a website with an Experts' Exchange with viewpoints on geopolitics, safety, labor, media and Chinese Americans. August 22: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) publishes 10th edition of UCLA Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Directory. November 14: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Director Don T. Nakanishi receives Yale Medal, Yale's highest honor from Yale Alumni Assn. for outstanding service to the University. November 15: "Beyond Boundaries: Education in Action," Asian American Studies Center (AASC) 40th Anniversary Asian American Studies and Activism conference sponsored by APC, AASGSA, APIUA, Asian American Studies Center (AASC), DAAS. Fall: Graduate Coalition of the Native Pacific established. Center launches expanded online bookstore in its website. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) launches website "Children of the Atomic Bomb," based on Dr. James Yamazaki's experience as the lead physician of the 1949 U.S. Atomic Bomb Medical Team, studying effects of the atomic bomb on children in Nagasaki. December: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) launches internet site for Amerasia and AAPI Nexus Journals. Subscribers can now access over 900 Amerasia articles dating back to its first issue in 1971. 2009 David Nishida and Tina Yamano Nishida Establish Distinguished Scholars Endowment. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) receives $100,000 to create the Martha Ogata Endowment Fund to further studies and activities for provision of services to Asian women and children who are victims of domestic violence or abuse. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Assistant. Director Melany Dela Cruz-Viesca is appointed to Human Relations Commission of the City of Los Angeles by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. April 10: "Unlearning the American Pacific: A Symposium on Anti-Colonial Pedagogies" sponsored by Graduate Coalition of the Native Pacific and Asian American Studies Center (AASC). May 16: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) celebrates 40th Anniversary with special tribute to Director and Professor Don T. Nakanishi. Asian American Studies Center (AASC) establishes the Don T. Nakanishi Engaged Scholarship Award. Marjorie Lee selected as Librarian of the Year for 2009 for work rescuing Asian American Studies Center (AASC) Reading Room's collection following 2008 flood from a broken water pipe. Summer: Lois Takahashi replaces Paul Ong as UC AAPI MRP Director. 2010 Arizona passes SB1070, requiring police to determine the immigration status of anyone arrested or de-tained when there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are undocumented. Led by indigenous peoples from all over the world, more than 35,000 gather for the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Protection of Life in Cochabamba, Bolivia, calling for a uni-versal declaration of the rights of Mother Earth. Jul 1: The UC Berkeley Asian American Studies Program changes its name to Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies (AAADS) to reflect the changing conditions of Asian American communities and their transnational relationships with Asian communities globally. Fall: UCLA Professor Jerry Kang is awarded The Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo Chair in Korean American Studies. May 13: The four UCLA Ethnic Studies Centers collaboratively host the "Justice or 'Just Us': Race, Ethnicity, and Mass Incarceration" symposium, which examines the societal costs of current criminal justice policies and the consequences of such policies for communities of color. Professor Victor Bascara awarded C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Disinguished Teaching Prize in Asian American Studies at UCLA. 2011 Environmental and indigenous groups launch a massive campaign, pressing President Barack Obama to reject Phase IV of the Keystone XL Pipeline project that would run through and near tribal lands, water resources, and place of spiritual significance. On Nov. 6, 2015, Obama rejects the Keystone XL Pipeline proposal. The Occupy Movement begins in New York City's Zuccotti Park, with other Occupy protests taking place in over 951 cities across 82 countries, and over 600 communities in the United States. Protests de-cry the effects of globalization and neoliberalism, particularly steepening inequality, with the slogan, "We are the 99%!" Fall: Center announces the publication of Speaking Our for Personal Justice. Center receives an anonymous donation of $300,000 and establishes the "Eji Suyama, 100th Battalion/442nd RCT Draftees, No-No-Boys, Draft Resisters and Renunciants Archival Endowment" to continue to build UCLA's collections in Japanese American Studies. Professor C. Cindy Fan awarded C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Distinguised Teaching Prize in Asian American Studies at UCLA. October 30: Amerasia Journal Senior Editor since 1977, Russell C. Leong celebrates his retirement. A special issue of Amerasia Journal commemorating Leong's career is published. January 25: Helen Agcaoili Summers Brown, an early supporter of Asian American Studies at UCLA as a member of the interim steering committee that drafted the proposal for the Center in 1968, and the first known Filipina graduate of UCLA, passes away at age 95. February 25: Los Angeles City Council honors the 40th Anniversary of UCLA Ethnic Studies Centers with special proclamation, honoring the Asian American Studies Center (AASC) as the "most comprehensive Asian American Studies Program in the country." March 7: Concerned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members join forces to put together Ethnic Studies Now! As UCLA and Beyond, an all-day symposium. February 15: The Center and Department hold the first-ever Awards Celebration to honor undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who earned prizes, scholarships, internships, and grants over the past year. 2012 The UC Berkeley Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program (AAADS) embarks upon a mul-ti-year fundraising campaign to commemorate its 50th anniversary in 2019. May 6: 200 people gather to celebrate Professor Robert A. Nakamura's retirement and his legacy as the "Godfather of Asian American media." Fall: Asian American Studies Center (AASC) receives $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to expand an existing study on how the foreclosure crisis has impacted Asian Americans in the East San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles. August 20: UCLA History Professor Emeritus, and former Acting Director and long-time Faculty Advisory Committee Chair of the Asian American Studies Center (AASC), Alexander Saxton, passes away in Lone Pine, California. Professor Keith L. Camacho is the Inaugural 2011-12 Recipient of the Don T. Nakanishi Award for Outstanding Engaged Scholarship in Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies at UCLA. Professor Paul M. Ong is the 2011-12 recipient of the C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Distinguised Teaching Prize. Yuko Konno is the inaugural recipient of the newly established Lucie Cheng Prize. The Center announces the establishment of the Stanley Kwok Lau and Dora Wong Lau Endowed Undergraduate Research Scholarship Fund in Chinese American History. 2013 The Association of Asian American Studies becomes the first US academic association to endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign. The resolution states: "Whereas the Association for Asian American Studies seeks to advance a critique of US empire, opposing US military occupation in the Arab world and US support for occupation and racist practices by the Israeli state... Be it resolved that the Association for Asian American Studies endorses and will honor the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions." Completion of Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee Endowed Fund In Social Justice and Immigration Studies. Professor King-Kok Cheung is the 2012-2013 Recipient of the C. Doris and Toshio Hoshide Dinstinguished Teaching Prize. 2014 Initiated by three black women organizers Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, the Black Lives Matter movement takes hold, fueled by the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin, the killing of Eric Garner by NYPD officers, and the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. According to the United Nations, the number of people displaced by war, conflict, or persecution reaches nearly 60 million, or one in every 122 people, around the world. Yuri Kochiyama, long-time activist and champion for human rights, passes away at 93. Yuri Kochiyama, a long-time activist and champion for human rights, passes away at age 93. October: The long-sought after Diversity Requirement in fulfillment of undergraduate general education passes at UCLA. The estate of the late Dr. Sanbo Sakaguchi and his late wfe Kazuko endow a one million dollar research fund at the Center to support activities connected to research, student work, and community-based partnerships. The Suyama Project, an online archival collection focused on the history of Japanese American Resistance during World War II, launches. The National Park Service awards a $154,960 matching grant to the Center through the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) Grant Program, which supports projects that aim to preserve and interpret confinement sites of Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II. June 22: Community seminar, "Native Incarceration & Native Relations: A Community Seminar" takes place to engage community members, students, alumni, staff and faculty on the topics of incarceration and inter-ethnic community relations among Pacific Islanders. Center receives $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation's Building Economic Security Over a Lifetime Inititative to generate new knowledge on wealth inequality and financial security in the United States, especially in closing the racial wealth gap. 2016 War, violence, and persecution leaves more people around the world displaced (over 65 million) than at any time in the 70-year history of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. The wealthiest eight people in the world own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion people combined. Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States, winning the Electoral College but los-ing the popular vote to democrat Hillary Clinton by a margin of nearly 2.9 million. Mike Pence, a Christian Evangelical theocrat, becomes Vice President. Professor Grace Yoo and Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP) Arlene Daus-Magbual establish the Asian American and Pacific Islander Retention and Education (ASPIRE) Project which provides advis-ing and academic support, as well as campus and community engagement. February: Asian American Studies (AAS) students, staff and faculty organize and build community sup-port to protest the university's proposed budget cuts for the College of Ethnic Studies that threaten to eliminate many classes and programs. May: San Francisco State students hold a 10-day Hunger Strike on the campus and issue 26 demands, including restoring $8 million to the College. The students end the strike after President Leslie Wong meets and negotiates with them and agrees to 11 of their demands including allocating an additional $483,000 for the College, hiring 2 more full-time faculty in the Department of Africana Studies (former-ly Black Studies), increased recruitment for the Ethnic Studies Master's program, and more transparency in the budget process, and regular ongoing meetings with Ethnic Studies students to support the college. 2017 Executive Order 13769, titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, commonly known as the Muslim ban, prohibits entry for 90 days by citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Lib-ya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The order also indefinitely halts refugees from Syria. Unable to sur-mount several legal challenges, the administration issues a second ban in March, which makes minimal changes to the first ban. Trump issues a third version of the ban in September, indefinitely banning almost all travel to the US from seven countries--Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. The day after President Trump's inauguration, a record-breaking 4 million people protest in 600 US towns and cities for a Women's March that also inspires satellite marches around the world, from Nai-robi to Beirut to Tokyo. Days later, thousands of protesters show up at several US airports to protest the detention of noncitizens from seven Muslim-majority nations that Trump attempted to exclude through a travel ban. Described as one of the largest white supremacist events in recent US history, the "Unite the Right" weekend of actions in Charlottesville, VA is organized by Jason Kessler, member of the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group. North Korea demonstrates that its nuclear program has advanced to the point of being able to strike US territories, and threatens to strike Guam if the United States does not stop its joint military exercises with South Korea. 2019 Asian American Studies (AAS) and the Asian American and Pacific Islander Retention and Education (ASPIRE) Project help establish the Critical Pacific Islands and Oceania Studies Minor in the College of Ethnic Studies within the Department of Race and Resistance Studies, the newest department within the college. |
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