UCLA made the list of
Best Colleges and Universities for AAPI Students!
In a challenge to see what schools rock the AAPI movement best, Angry Asian Man and APAs for Progress asked schools around the nation to flaunt their stuff in a lengthy essay-worthy survey.
Well, some for sure must likes us because s/he went to great lengths, filling out that questionnaire to make sure LA got some of that limelight!
Check out our sweet, sweet feature, as one of the ten greatest!
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Best Colleges and Universities for AAPI Students: UCLA
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 00:23
It’s day 2 of the Best Colleges list organized by APAs for Progress and
Angry Asian Man. Again, the top ten are being presented in no particular order.
Today, we’re profiling
UCLA.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Founded: 1919
Public university
Enrollment: Approximately 27,000 undergraduate students
% Asian/Pacific Islander: 47%
Interesting fact: A list of notable alumni reads like a “who’s who?” in Asian Pacific America. They include
USSA President Greg Cendana, Congresswoman
Judy Chu, John Delloro (president of
APALA), CA Assembly Members
Warren Furutani and
Mike Eng, Lisa Hasegawa (executive director,
National CAPACD), founder of
APALC Stewart Kwoh,
Kal Penn (actor and associate director of the White House Office of Public Liaison), actor and LGBT rights activist
George Takei, Abhi Tripathi (helped start
Sepia Mutiny),
Manan Trivedi (candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania), and many more.
UCLA should be picked as the Best U.S. College/University for AAPI activism because it not only has one of the longest histories out of any university, it also continues to be extremely active on campus, in the local Los Angeles area, and on national campaigns such as the DREAM Act. No school's legacy of API student activism can match ours both in terms of historical legacy as well as current vitality. – UCLA Students
That statement would be brash if the Bruins didn’t have a lot to back up that declaration. Not only do UCLA students have a whole lot of opportunities to learn about AAPI issues in classes and to develop as community leaders in programs on campus, they take the mission of service and activism to another level off campus too.
On campus, students can pursue an academic major or minor in the Asian American Studies department, which is one of the oldest and largest in the nation with 40+ professors. In the last year, students won a battle for AAS to offer a Filipino Studies concentration. Students can also take advantage of the resources at the
Asian American Studies Center. In 2008, students organized the "Beyond Boundaries: Education in Action" conference, which commemorated and evaluated the progress of 40 years of Asian American Studies and activism at UCLA.
The
Asian Pacific Coalition (APC) serves as the collective organization of AAPI student groups at UCLA. APC and member AAPI organizations run internship programs, which empower students to become progressive leaders in AAPI communities on and off campus. Internship alumni go on to lead various organizations on campus like the
Student Retention Center, which is the first student run, student initiated, and student-funded center of its kind in the nation. Most recently APC successfully led the “
Count Me In!” campaign to disaggregate AAPI ethnic data in the University of California system. The Coalition is currently advocating for mental health resources targeting AAPI students as well as for the
DREAM Act.
Using the assets on campus, students are also active community organizers off campus. The
Student Initiated Access Center empowers low income K-12 youth in the greater Los Angeles area to apply and enroll in college. Through relationships with community-based organizations, students have worked with
KIWA to secure a living wage for Koreatown workers and with J-Town Voice to confront issues of gentrification in Little Tokyo. Also, there’s a variety of student organizations that provide direct services to AAPI communities. One in particular of note is the Asian Pacific Health Corps, which runs free health fairs for residents of Los Angeles's Chinatown to get free health screenings. UCLA students have also worked with other API-related health organizations, such as Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches.
As one of our judges put it: “Wow. How can anyone compare to UCLA?”
Can I get an 8 Clap?
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That's all for now!
Did you notice the new staff page? Thanks Dian!
-Sally
