The College is the only school in the Five College Consortium that does not recognize the APA certificate. In 2003, the other four institutions approved the certificate, which the College declined due to understaffing. Accepting the certificate would be the first step to opening the way for more APA course offerings at the College, a goal that has been unrealized since the 1970s.
Sharma said that support for the APA certificate is already in place, "[There's] little more for Amherst to do but join. It does raise the question whether the College will dedicate one new full-time tenure-track hire as an Asian Americanist. This is necessary because, if Amherst accepts the certificate, students will need an APA Studies advisor," she said.
Last year, the Asian Students Association (ASA) endeavored to inform students and faculty of what APA studies entailed, how it differed from Asian languages and civilizations (ALAC) and why the certificate and APA professors were needed.
ASA tabled in Valentine Hall, papered the campus with fliers, petitioned departments and headlined the certificate at their annual student-faculty banquet. Associate Dean of Students and Assistant Director of the Career Center Bekki Lee and Professor of English Barry O'Connell spoke at the event.
Sharma also initiated an Asian American lecture series last year. These efforts coincided with a general curriculum and staff reevaluation. Since then, however, the ASA has fallen silent on the matter. The ASA's long-term goal is for the establishment of a separate department for APA studies.
Institutions such as Columbia, Cornell and Yale Universities and Williams and Swarthmore Colleges, have established Asian American studies programs. The University of Pennsylvania has Asian and Middle Eastern studies, and East Asian area studies, as well as a minor in Asian American studies.
Sharma emphasized the importance of establishing APA studies. "It's fair to expect a more reasonable place for Asian American scholarship within an institution of this size, a minimum of a few Asian American tenure-track positions so that students, and not just Asian American students, can study American history, economics, politics, film, media, music, art and so on more completely," said Sharma.
Conversations with the administration about APA studies have spanned over 30 years. In 1972, a group of Asian and Asian American students composed a letter voicing their dissatisfaction with the curriculum. From 1979 to the early 1990s, students continued to lobby intermittently.
Students founded the Asian American Studies Committee in 1990 hoping to establish APA studies, with a minimum of one APA course per semester, and increase Asian American representation in faculty, administrators and students. The Committee became the Diversity Task Force in 1991 to include Latino Studies, only to disband by 1999. In the mid-90s, Asian American Studies Professor Jan Lin was hired, but her part-time position was not renewed after three years and was given to a Latin American studies professor.
O'Connell explained that tenure for Asian American professors has been rare at the College. "Every Asian American that has come up for tenure has been denied, with the exception of Professor Wako Tawa. Everyone in the field of Asian American studies has been turned down. There is pressure on the administration to think harder … to make American studies stop being white studies," he said.
Where ALAC concerns various Asian nations and languages, APA Studies is inherently American, not merely pertaining to the United States, but the Americas at large. "The study of Asians in the U.S. is distinct from the study of Asians in Asia, as the category itself [Asian American] is an American invention," said Sharma.
Martin Aguilera '09 who has taken several Japanese courses explained the necessity of an APA studies department. "An APA studies department would greatly advance students' knowledge of rich, yet neglected, cultural histories and their presence in America today. Amherst as a whole must take greater initiative in introducing classes and departments pertaining to ethnic minority groups," he said.
Sharma, however, explained that an entire APA department may be unlikely. "I'm not sure I advocate an entire department of Asian American studies at Amherst College, partly due to faculty numbers, and because we don't live in a region with a critical Asian American mass," said Sharma. "That being said, increasing numbers of Asian American students makes it problematic that we don't have a full-time Asian Americanist. I do, however, believe that ethnic studies-either as a department, or a program, or a loose congregation of scholars across the disciplines, should have a place at Amherst."