online petition: the future of asian/asian american studies at syracuse university

This is in support of the students who are fighting for the future of Asian American Studies at Syracuse University. After a thirteen-year campaign to establish the program, Syracuase finally passed a minor in Asian American studies last spring. However, they're still struggling to hire professors. The latest hurdle in the process:

We are writing to demand transparency and non-tokenizing student participation in the hiring process for the Asian/Asian American studies minor at Syracuse University.

Susan Edmunds, who has no formal background in teaching Asian American literature, was chosen to teach ETS 315 in Spring 2011. This will be her first time teaching an Asian American literature class. Her specialization is in U.S. modernism and twentieth-century U.S. fiction and NOT Asian American literature, even though she has sporadically used Asian American literature in some of her classes. It is important to point out that Edmunds has no publications on Asian American literature. She is also the contact person for hiring an Asian Americanist for the English Department.

There was no student voice in this decision. It does not make sense for someone who has no background in Asian American literature to be chosen to teach a class on the subject and to be put in charge of the hiring of an Asian Americanist for Spring 2011. This was a poor decision on the part of the administration and the English Department for acting without student input. We demand the right to student participation in all decisions that involve the AAA minor.

This has got to be a frustrating development for the students who have fought so hard to make this program a reality. If you'd like to support the Asian American students at Syracuse University in this issue, sign the online petition to the administration and English department here.