Since January of 1977, the Asian American Activities Center (A3C), established through student-led community organizing, has supported a community of undergraduate and graduate scholars, organizers, artists, alumni, faculty, staff and friends. The A3C, like other community centers, is not a place for self-segregation – the A3C is a place for congregation, identity and intellectual development and for individual and community empowerment.

At Stanford, we are critically challenged to become better versions of ourselves. For many of us, the A3C provides us with the resources and support that give us the confidence to do research, attend graduate school and see ourselves represented in areas of our life, even when Stanford fails to. Michael Choo ’96, an alumnus who served on the University Board of Trustees from 2003-08, “found it difficult to find role models of Asian Americans in politics and public policy,” but he “became much more engaged … with student groups that would invite speakers onto campus,” many of which were hosted at the Asian American Activities Center. For Choo,“the staff of the A3C played such an integral part in supporting the development of [him] as a student leader.”

To us, the A3C and the other ethnic community centers are the social conscience of this university and actively do the work of engaging diversity, valuing inclusion and championing equity. Asian Americans are stereotyped to be a “model minority,” a concept declaring all Asian Americans to be “intelligent, successful and wealthy,” and this harmful stereotype prevents people from gaining a nuanced understanding of the problems within the diverse Asian American community. Many Asian Americans come from immigrant or refugee backgrounds, struggle with poverty and mental health issues and face discrimination due to their racial or ethnic identities.

The A3C has a long history of community organizing and innovative programming that is rarely recognized by the University. Prior to the major emphasis on campus-wide mental health and well-being, the A3C commissioned a mental health taskforce in 2006 to examine the climate on mental health among Asian American students. Over 55 percent of students surveyed said that it is important to see a counselor knowledgeable of Asian American cultural issues. At the time, Cindy Ng, the associate dean and director of the A3C, said that “Asian American [undergraduates] are still one of the few populations that underutilize CAPS, and [she thinks] it’s because of that cultural stigma,” particularly for students with Asian American backgrounds. In response to the data from the survey, the A3C piloted the first CAPS office hours, where a culturally competent Asian American psychiatrist holds clinical hours at the center each week “as well as additional programs that promote mental health.” This model has since been replicated at other centers.

With over 14 percent of the graduate student body self-identifying as Asian (and that number is growing), the A3C piloted a graduate student mental health and well-being program addressing issues specific to the needs of Asian and Asian American graduate students. Additional staff and programmatic funding would allow the center to more fully support our graduate student population and provide the programming, resources and advising necessary to cultivate the sense of belonging that graduate students need to thrive. Caroline Lee, Ph.D. ‘09 in educational psychology, said that her “academic success would not have been possible without the social support that the A3C provided” and that the “Ph.D. forum for Asian Americans in underrepresented fields allowed for academic sharing and dialogue.”

For those of us who have been to the A3C, we know how crucial this space has been in developing our own sense of belonging, political consciousness and intellectual growth. Imagine what the A3C and the other community centers could do if we had the resources we needed. Since 1989, the University Committee on Minority Issues has recommended that the University’s budget should “provide each center with three full-time staff positions by Sept. 1, 1990.” A3C is currently staffed by two full-time staff, Cindy Ng and Jerald Adamos, the associate dean and director and assistant dean and associate director. It is unreasonable for this university to expect that students will get the resources we need if there are not enough full-time staff to be able to coordinate all the resources, programming and advising necessary for our community to thrive.

For almost three decades, A3C administrative staff and students have been advocating for increased staffing, including a staff member focused on responsibilities such as research, graduate students and community partnerships as well as an administrative assistant to ensure all-around support for both the staff and students. Moreover, with an increase in staffing and programmatic funding, the A3C would be able to support the expansion of graduate student programming, create new and innovative programming and collaborations and give staff the flexibility to adapt to evolving needs and developments necessitated by changing demographics and conditions such as the current divisive political climate. This has been and continues to be one of the top priorities for students on this campus. The University needs to support its students.

Signed,

Ian Macato ’19
Lina Khoeur ’18
Savannah Pham ’18
Marisa Mission ’21
Davis Chhoa ’18
Tenzin Wangdak ’20
My Nguyen ’20
Becky Yang ’20

Contact the authors at communitycentercoalition ‘at’ gmail.com.