The College rejected the certificate program in the mid-1990s and has not reconsidered the program since.
"Students have been advocating for a significant increase in Asian American curricular offerings and an Asian American studies program ... since at least the early to mid 1990s," said Associate Dean of Students Rebecca Lee.
The College justified its decision previously by noting that its course offerings were inadequate to support a certificate program.
Professor of English Barry O'Connell teaches a class in Asian American Writing which he is not offering this semester. "Approving the certificate would have been an easy way for the College to disguise that it has done nothing to represent the field of Asian Pacific American studies," said O'Connell. "And that makes its failure to approve this certificate all the more scandalous."
"The basic reasoning behind why it was not accepted was because there were no professors available to teach the necessary courses and it was thought that there was no point in approving a program that students would have to go off campus for," said five college fellow Jean Kim, who is currently teaching History 58, Asian American Historiography, the only class currently offered in Asian American studies at Amherst.
Various five college certificate programs in such fields as African studies and Latin American studies have been approved at the College, while Middle Eastern studies is still pending approval.
The APA program would enable students to pursue a concentrated study of the experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the Americas. Although the College offers a major in Asian Languages and Civilizations, many students do not believe that to be sufficient.
"APA studies is different from Asian Languages and Civilizations because APA is inherently American," said Chee Yap '05, who is currently enrolled in Asian American Historiography. "It's basically the study of a group of Americans that have been oppressed or neglected or marginalized in American history and Asian Languages and Civilizations doesn't address that. It addresses Asia, not America."
Amherst is the only one of the five colleges to have refused the certificate, as the APA studies program is available to students at Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Smith Colleges and is pending approval at UMass.
"I definitely agree that the College should actively pursue hires in the field [of Asian American studies], as well as support the five college certificate for it," said Kim. "A lot of colleges and universities across the northeast already have larger course offerings [than Amherst].
"It's unusual for us not to have the certificate, especially being surrounded-as we are-by colleges with such programs," Kim added. "The College should be interested in ways to catch up to the other schools."
Lee said that if the APA program were to be instated the College would need to hire more professors and create additional classes.
The five college APA program requires a student to earn the equivalent of a "B" grade or better in a minimum of seven courses in order to earn the certificate. Students are also encouraged to attain some proficiency in at least one language other than English.
"Students could fulfill the certificate by taking advantage of courses offered at some of the other colleges," said Kim. "It would require them to go off campus quite a bit and it would be pretty difficult, but it could be done and I would encourage it."
A small open forum organized by Bethany Li '03, the Amherst student representative for the five college APA studies committee, was held for interested students last Friday.
"Students need to get more involved for the administration to make changes because the administration will not do anything if students don't show that they care," said Li.
President Tom Gerety suggested that the College would be willing to listen to the requests of students for the APA program. "The students are welcome to put it before us," he said.
Lee said that students can show their support for the APA program in many different ways. "[Students can] come to one of our organizational meeting. [They can] voice their interest in APA studies. [They can] take an APA course either here or at one of the other five colleges," she said.
"Top universities all over the nation, including Columbia, Cornell and Yale all have established Asian American programs," said Li. "Even Williams offers at least three classes in the area. It would be as legitimate a program as, say, European history."
"To not have an Asian Pacific American studies program is a serious denial of Asian Pacific Islander contributions and experiences in America," said Lee. "We have influenced and contributed to the economic, agricultural, literary, artistic, social, political and scientific development of this country."
Li encourages students to attend the open forum on the issue on April 23 in Moore Dormitory. Kim, Lee and O'Connell, the main faculty proponents of the program, will be present, as well as Hampshire and Holyoke students that have received certificates this year.
"We want to see what comes out of the big meeting and work from there," said Li. "Students keep asking what we are going to do, but it's really up to everybody to decide how we want to pressure the administration."
Asians hold the distinction of being the largest minority at the College, accounting for 12 percent of the student body, followed by African American students at nine percent and Hispanic students at eight percent. From among the five colleges, Amherst is tied with Smith for having the largest percentages of Asians.