Asian American center celebrates history
Silver anniversary honors past full of struggles, triumphs
By Betty Song
In anticipation of Saturday’s kick-off to a year-long silver
anniversary celebration, students, staff and faculty recalled the
voluminous past of UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.
But although the center celebrates its 25th anniversary this
year, it lays claim to many more years of history.
The activism of the 1960s spotlighted people of color in both
private and public institutions, said the center’s director Don
Nakanishi.
"(The times) were influencing how we viewed ourselves as Asian
Americans, and how different groups viewed us in this society,"
Nakanishi said. "Whether it was the stereotypical myths, or the
lack of visibility in research at higher education, the whole
period raised so many issues."
Following demonstrations at San Francisco State University for
ethnic studies, Chancellor Charles Young invited committees of
students and faculty to develop the idea of ethnic studies centers
for UCLA, recalled Alan Nishio, one of the Asian American Studies
Center’s earliest directors. The center was finally established in
the 1969-70 academic year, but according to Nishio, the work had
just begun.
"In the early years we had to try to establish legitimacy with
the university, as not a ‘traditional’ resource center, but one
that actually involves the students and link them with the
community," Nishio said.
"We were challenging traditional fields because other
departments thought we didn’t need ethnic studies program, (but)
the experiences of people of color (were being) neglected by
American scholarship," Nishio explained.
Students continued to be actively involved in the center’s
development, but according to UCLA Sociology Professor Lucie Cheng
who directed the center for 16 years, the idealism of the early
years faded when the center emerged into the university’s
mainstream.
"We felt that everybody (students and staff) should be equal,
and that everything should be collectively discussed," Cheng said.
"But that takes a long time and is inefficient. To progress, we
felt it was more important to become part of the mainstream, and be
like other organizations."
Some examples of the center’s progress includes gaining a
greater number of diverse scholars and a broader range of course
offerings. UCLA now offers more than 50 Asian American classes
compared to only eight when the center began.
Marjorie Lee, a UCLA undergraduate during the early 1970s,
remembers the impact of taking one of the first classes offered,
especially one addressing Asian women. "Over any other program
offered, I could learn about myself  where I came from," said
Lee who is now the coordinator and information specialist at the
center’s reading room and library.
"(I learned about) the formation of Asian women’s identity, how
women are a lesser known factor in the family and have less of a
voice  problems my mother was grappling with," Lee
recounted.
In addition to being a UCLA undergraduate, Lee received her
master’s degree here in Asian American studies, a program which was
established in 1976. UCLA is the only university in the nation to
offer a master’s program, and just last year added a long-awaited
undergraduate program.
Fifth-year Asian American studies student Alyssa Kang had been
waiting since her freshman year for the undergraduate major in
Asian American studies, and believed that the program would
eventually be offered. But she added that the recent demonstrations
for a Chicano studies department from the past two years helped
push the program through.
"(The demonstrations) showed that the university needs to put
more attention to ethnic studies, that they are very relevant to a
campus which says it is dedicated to diversity," Kang said.
The Asian American Studies Center will begin its year-long
silver anniversary celebration with a reunion and reception
Saturday at the James West Alumni Center. The event is free and
open to the public and will begin at 3 p.m.