Asian Pacific American Studies Forum etc

Yay!!! ASC finally launched their first blog in WM history (and we all know how long that is) today! How totally exciting :]

Props for Andrew Chan giving me the idea when he started the CSO blog on xanga. I think Bryan Neva also had the idea but I guess we beat him to it-

This place functions primarily as a electronic document/record for ASC, but it also serves as a forum, a place for discussions, comments and feedback. Basically, it can be whatever we want and what we want to make of it. Heck, who knows what's going to happen to this site, whether we all actually make an effort to maintain it and whether this idea is actually cool. Even if no one reads this, it'll hopefully be a great way to document the progress of ASC. So here we go...


Today we had our first Asian Pacific American Studies forum (Tyler 102, 5-7 PM). Technically, it was not hosted by us but something that was first initiated by Eddy Hong and Stacey McDermott.

Basically, we want to see if it was possible to begin an APAS program here at William & Mary - whether or not there was a interest and more importantly, a demand. Apparently alumni from the past have thought of the idea to start a APAS program but it never got carried out. It was not well documented; could have been transitional problems, lack of interest, support funds etc. It would have been good to see why it never worked out so that we can make sure it worked out this time.

Not too many people came out, but thats ok, we weren't really expecting too many people. Around 4 professors came out, along side a handful of students. Eddy and Stacey along with Professor Francis Tanglao Aguas lead most of the discussion. We touched on some very important issues, mostly funding and logistical problems we might be running into, faculty support and what kind of classes we have now that could be used to start a APAS program.

What I thought was most relevant to us, as students is how much interest and support we have towards building a APAS program. Essentially, this is something that is very relevant to us because without our support, there would be no point in a APAS program. More importantly, once we show our support and start filling those classes, how to maintain this interest so that the program can survive in the future. So that people will want major in APAS from WM. Thinks like that-

There's so many things I didn't touch on but there is so many things to think about. This is a pretty big project and more long-term than short (even though there are short term plans) but today's discussion was very informative and it gave me a better 'structure' in my mind of how I think about the APAS, what is going on and what are professors, administrators and students alike are doing to make this work.

What do you guys think?