By the end of this century, Latinos, Asian Americans, and African Americans will compose over half of the population of the United States. These groups have had vastly different experiences than the Caucasian majority has had, and how they act and interact will have a fundamental impact on the direction this nation takes. Therefore the study of Latino and Asian American cultures takes on an enormous academic importance. If Princeton is to maintain its role as a leader in undergraduate education, it must fully accept these developments and incorporate them into the curriculum.

In advocating Asian American and Latino Studies, we do not want to be trapped within the framework of particular margins of identity politics. One of the many purposes of Asian American and Latino Studies is to seek to understand and forge alliances across minority, post-colonial, and feminist discourses. Asian American and Latino Studies are not simply the study of two racial/ethnic communities, two cultural niches. We do not want to promote academic ghettoization by any means. We see ethnic studies not only as a study of the diversity within our own communities, but also as a means through which to understand the larger societal issues affecting not only the U.S., bt the world.

Additionally, the establishment of Asian American and Latino Studies will improve the situation of minority students at Princeton, who drop out of school at an alarming rate. Although student organizations do their best to provide a comfortable atmosphere, the academic establishment barely recognizes the identity and adjustment issues that minority students face when arriving on campus. Without courses focusing on race and ethnicity, the Princeton experience, for many, becomes hollow. Our unique cultures and histories must be taught here, for as long as they are ignored, our struggles and contributions are easily forgotten.

*Note: "Latino Studies" refers to the study of the people of Latin American ancestry living in the United States, including culture, politics, literature, sociology, history, etc. "Asian American Sudies" examined the experiences of Asians in the United States, also through multidisciplinary lenses.

Background and History of Ethnic Studies at Princeton

The Latino Studies Effort

In the 1986-1987 school year, Latino students met with President Bowen to discuss the absence of ethnic Latino faculty. President Bowen stated that it was neither fair nor reasonable to expect students to continue this initiative without active administrative involvement. As a result, a faculty committee was appointed to create three professorships. Although the hiring of Latino faculty was implemented, the only professor who taught courses focusing on Latino Studies was Jorge Klor de Alva, who left Princeton in 1994.

To our knowledge, this was the first meeting with the President by what came to be known as the Latino Task Force. The Task Force continued its efforts to bring Latino Studies to campus until 1991. Those efforts included two meetings each year with the President to discuss the issue, as well as countless meetings with various deans, department heads, and university officers, with little measurable success.

The Latino Studies issue was taken up again in 1994, when undergraduate students met with various University officials (President, Provost, Dean of the Faculty, Dean of the College, and various departments heads) about the deficiency in Latino Studies course offerings and faculty at Princeton. Despite the creation of various task forces and committees, there had been little concrete advancement towards a stronger Latino studies curriculum prior to last Spring's protests.

The Asian American Studies Effort

In November 1988, shortly after the arrval of Harold Shapiro as President, Asian and Asian American students met with him and stated emphatically their goal to have Asian American studies taught on a permanent basis at Princeton. In the fall of 1989, students succeeded in convincing Professor Betty Lee Sung to offer a student-initiated seminar in Asian American Studies. Since then, a number of university reports have also supported the development of Asian American Studies.

The 1990 Report on Asian Pacific American Students by Paula Chow and Eva Gossman urged the university to encourage departments to offer courses focused on the Asian Pacific American experience. In 1993 the report of the Asian American Student Task Force recommended that the university create a tenure-track position in an academic department or program specialist in Asian American Studies. With no response to the demands, the Asian American Stuent Task Force reiterated the recommendation in an open letter to the Board of Trustees.

The 1994 Report of the Committee on Diversity and Liberal Education recommended that Princeton represents scholars with expertise in emerging fields of study such as Asian American and Latino studies more fully on its faculty. For the Spring of 1995, students were able to arrange for the American Studies program to sponsor Franklin Odo to teach AMS 318: Asian American history. Over the course of several meetings with faculty and administraors during the 1994-1995 school year, much had been promised, but prior to the protest, permanent efforts had not been made.