Announcements&Reminders

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Midwest Asian American Students Unionc/o Danielle Masuda6515 Wydown BlvdCampus Box 1250St. Louis, MO 63105

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Lena Khader is currently a junior studying psychology at Oklahoma City University. She was an OCA intern this past summer, working with the National Education Association.

Meet Our NewAdvocacy Chair!

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RCARRacism the Challenge, Advocacy the Response

ECC Programming

You can share your story through various outlets, such as letters, videos, blog posts, artwork, and songs.

Keep in mind: No profanity. Do not directly attack people; withhold their names if at all possible. Try to tell your story in the most accurate way. Please do not make up a story; only write about events that actually happened Try to avoid racial slurs, if they are part of the story, include them, but the slurs in question should be referring to the protagonist. If you wish to remain anonymous, please let us know when you submit. Your submission may be chosen to be featured in an issue of MAASU’s newsletter or hosted on MAASU’s website for a given period of time.

If you would like to write a letter or blog post, please keep it to two pages or less.

If you would like to submit a video or song, make sure to keep it under 3 minutes.

Please keep everything rated PG-13.

Selection of submissions will be done via voting by MAASU Representatives (M-Reps) and the Executive Planning Committee (ECC).

As a minority group, Asian Americans have been subject to racism and racial slurs every once in a while. It is important that we use these instances to empower ourselves and advocate to others who may not know of these ongoing situations. Our new program, Racisim the Challenge, Advocacy the Response (RCAR) encourages everyone to take advantage of these unfortunate events and share their stories with others. The details of the program are as listed:

Questions? Comments? E-mail the Programming Co-Chairs, Kevin Chiem and Ashkaan Bahreini at programming@maasu.org.

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Leadership Retreat 2011

MAASU

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Experience

The 2011 MAASU Leadership Retreat was held at the University of Illinois at Chicago the weekend of November 12th. The retreat gave many the opportunity to learn what it takes to be successful in forming a strong base for an organization. With the theme name being “From the Grassroots,”

emphasis was put on strengthening students’ ability to make a difference. Grassroot movements are important in allowing individuals to gain local supporters in an issue they believe in and want to make a positive difference in. Many social changes start can start with just one person who jumpstarts the movement and recruits others with similar beliefs. Hopefully the attendees of the leadership retreat were able to walk away with the confidence and knowledge to empower others.

The night before the workshops, attendees were able to mingle with other students from all over the midwest and have a discussion after watching Vincent Who? Anne Guevarra, Associate Professor for Asian American Studies started off the day of the conference with a rousing speech to prepare the attendees for what would be in store for them the rest of the day. Before attending the workshops, students were asked to think about what they would like to walk away from the conference with. These ideas were encouraged and fostered in the small groups where individuals were better able to network with students from other schools, as well as conduct discussions in a smaller groups setting. Workshop themes ranged from familial relations and peer environments to learning how to network and covering issues that are often neglected in everyday conversations. The variety of workshops served to

The conference concluded with a banquet where students were able to continue mingling and networking with fellow attendees from other schools. Tuyet Le of the Asian American Institute gave a moving speech as the keynote speaker for the night and conveyed an important message to many students who may not have enough confidence or feel comfortable with being a leader. In addition, performances were put on by Youtube artist Gabe Bondoc and Stir Friday Night, an Asian American improv group from Chicago. Banquet attendees were awarded with a surprise flash mob performance that ended with what might have been the first MAASU proposal! Congratulations to the couple! Sponsor MYX TV captured everything with a live stream that can be viewed at http://bit.ly/xEPZ0E.

We hope students were able take away many important lessons and messages from the retreat and share with their fellow students who were unable to attend. See you all at the 2012 Spring Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign!

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Experience

FACT Filipino Americans Coming Together

Who are you?

Stephanie Camba is a senior in Human Development and Family Studies minoring in Global Labor Studies. FACT has been an inspiration to Stephanie from her first year of college when she was asked to sing the Filipino National Anthem, an event that sparked an awareness and passion to celebrate strength and beauty of Filipino/Fil-Am culture. Since then, FACT has always found a way to inspire her. Stephanie is an advocate ofsocial justice and equity of all forms and hopes to be a immigration lawyer representing families and upholding basic human rights. She would like to thank every person and unit that has participated in the planning and coordinating of FACT. Her hope is that you all share what you have learned in FACT and spread the love.

Megan Mangahas is a senior graduating this upcoming December 2011 with her Bachelor’s in Accountancy. Born and raised in the epitome of suburbia, she had big hopes and even bigger dreams to explore the world outside Bartlett. She’s been an active member of the Philippine Student Association since her freshman year. They became her friends, her home, her family. She attended her first FACT Conference as a junior in high school(...), never did she expect that 6 years later, she’d take part in the making of such a remarkable conference. FACT has already impacted her in so many ways, but her experience as a coordinator has truly brought out the love and passion she has for this conference, the culture, and the organization. She can’t wait to take all she’s has experienced and learned into the real world. Her plans are to continue exploring not only her personal boundaries, but the world around her as well.

The Filipino Americans Coming Together is an annual conference put on by the Philippine Student Association at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This free conference is open to students nation-wide and is a major event in many Filipino American students’ lives. A great opportunity for students to learn more about empowerment, their own culture, and to connect with other students, many non-Filipino American students attend as well. Attendance this year at the 19th annual FACT conference maxed out well beyond 1,000 delegates who were able to take advantage of the plethora of activities and workshops. Highlights include a workshop that focused on promoting innovation within student organizations and the ArchiTEKS performance at the Variety Show. Not only did students attend these workshops, but they were also able to participate in facilitating them and performing in the Variety Show, as well. This year, the theme was “From Ako to Tayo: Connecting With Our Communities.” “Ako” meaning ‘me’ in Tagalog, and “Tayo” meaning ‘us.’ Incorporating the theme into the organization of the conference, the coordinators took advantage of this opportunity to connect with not only the students on the UIUC campus, but students from all over. Stephanie and Megan, the FACT Conference coordinators, were kind enough to share their insight regarding the conference.

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Why did you want to coordinate FACT?After my first FACT, I was determined to become a future coordinator. The impact it makes, both big and small, on so many people was so powerful and moving to me. It was something I was passionate about improving, but also upholding. It is amazing that we have such a conference at UIUC and I feel so lucky to have become a part of it.

What were your visions?We wanted our conference to really relate to our delegates and adhere to the needs of our changing demographic and their changing interests. Our vision was to implement more meaning into our conference through our workshop content, the way we interacted with others, the technology and designs we used, the resources on campus as well as in the Chicagoland area and through being open minded with how we carried out our tasks. We always knew we wanted to bring FACT to a new level and we were both open to taking it to new directions. Dreaming big and listening to the feedback from leaders in our community brought our conference to the new level it has now attained.

What was your favorite part in organizing the conference? In the conference itself?The people will always be my favorite part of organizing the conference. We worked with so

many phenomenal groups and individuals during our planning of this conference and they really helped continue to drive us in our organizing. Their positive energy, innovation, and their passion to help with FACT was so beautiful.

What do you think worked really well in preparing for the conference?Planning ahead of time and being comfortable with one another’s work ethic and purpose of being

FACT Coordinator really helped the both of us develop a strong dynamic, which fostered growth and improvement within our conference and those we worked with.

What would you have done differently?Starting from our selection of speakers and workshop topics we had set out to have a more meaningful and relevant conference. We were also determined to use a more personal approach in outreaching to other schools and students groups, which we did both on campus and with other Midwest Association of Filipino Americans or MAFA schools. These changes sparked a new wave of support and suggestions

“Their positive energy, innovation, and their passion to help with FACT was so beautiful.”

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from outside of PSA. Anna Gonzalez suggested having a “Create Your Own Workshop” Contest, which was so successful that our FACT interns chose one contest winner, but still asked to have two of the workshops presented at our conference (all three were very successful). In addition, Jeano Cruz, MAASU 2011 Co-Coordinator helped us with using social media and supplying us with various incentives for networking games that we implemented this year. He helped with our PSA FACT facebook friend, which kept our delegates better informed of FACT News.

Through the help of the Asian American Housing Organization or (AASHO) and their leaders Michelle Chhong and Cleda

Wang, we were able to secure a new venue this year at the Student Dining and Residential Programming Building (commonly referred to as the SDRP or IKE). Through this collaboration and their support, we were able to highlight on of the amazing gems of this campus of having immense accessibility, but also an environmental consciousness in the buildings that are being created on our campus.

Another huge change is the increased involvement of individual delegates. Delegates themselves took the initiative to fb message, tweet, email and continue to contact The Architeks to perform on our campus. They took the initiative to make our Hip Hop workshop happen and

bring these amazing artists to our campus. It was moving to see how much passion and excitement emanated from our delegates this year. Their undying support came before our conference and has continued to flourish even a month after our conference has been over.

What were your expectations?GREATNESS. LOVE. POSITIVE ENERGY. We definitely wanted to uphold the consistent success and expectations of those who have preceded us, but we also wanted to implement change that would be lasting and leave an impression on our campus and those who attend or hear about our event.

What’s going on now that FACT is over?As we finish up our contracts and finalize our funding agreements, we are now moving forward to the evaluation our conference from the perspective of teamFACT and our interns. We are working on improving the organization of FACT and creating a stronger foundation and guidelines for our future coordinators to follow, so that it will be even easier for them to make this conference continually improve.

“we also wanted to implement change that would be lasting and leave an impression...”

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Located within the Rocky Mountains, the Asian Student Alliance at the University of Denver is the first Colorado member organization of MAASU and the first to

be situated outside of the conventional Midwest. “I feel that ASA is the first step to having the rest of Colorado look towards being a member of MAASU or at least towards the progression of APIA issues,“ states Philip Trinh, ASA’s current President.

ASA primarily focuses on several core features: academic, political, and social aspects pertaining to the Asian Pacific American population on the DU campus and surrounding community. As one of the few Asian political student organizations in the state, ASA seeks to bring awareness and education to the community as a whole on the significant issues affecting Asian Americans from the past, present, and in the future. Not only does ASA support the Asian American students on campus, but it also offers its support to all ethnicities and strives to promote inclusive

excellence. Evan Boucher, Junior, initially joined ASA as an ethnicity exploration project for his class. “I ended upstaying because of all the great people in ASA- it’s really helped me find friends at DU.”

This support is echoed by the many individuals who are current members of ASA. “It has been the highlight of my college experience outside of academics. Because of this group, I am more conscious, more respecting, and more determined as a person than I have ever been,” says C.J de Dios, “now, I feel like I have the ability to effectively spread awareness throughout the community along with other like-minded individuals who share the same goal.”Al Deng, a non-DU student who has become apart of the ASA community, states, “ASA is filled with positive energy and empowers the local community.”

With a strong emphasis on building community, one of ASA’s key features is that of a mentoring system, which they refer to as the “A-Crew.” With this in place, members of ASA have the opportunity

Asian Student Alliance@ University of Denver Vanessa Teck

School Spotlight

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“ASA has one of the best systems for leadership development and succession on the DU campus. Members are able to develop leadership through shadowing current leaders and participating in the organization’s decision-making process.,” shares Daniel Mason, a former A-Crew Member.

Furthermore, the leaders of ASA are some of the most well-recognized leaders on campus boasting features in the DU Magazine, the Pioneer Award receptions, and respect from the DU community.”

As a fairly new organization that began in 2007, ASA has already featured Spoken Word Artists Beau Sia and Kelly Tsai, Wong Fu Productions, Curtis Chin, David So, J.R Aquino, and attracts an audience of hundreds to their annual eXpressions event, which is dedicated to breaking stereotypes and showcasing the talents of Asian Americans and other community members. In addition. DU ASA is set to host the upcoming MAASU Mixer.

“ASA has had a profound impact on my life. Before I joined ASA, I didn’t have anything that I was truly passionate about, ” reflects Craig Hirokawa, a past Officer and A-Crew Member, “In a broad sense, ASA gave me something to strive for; something to dedicate and focus my energy towards; and something to ground my activism in.” The drive does not stop there and this energy will only be fueled by ASA’s involvement in MAASU.

And as we say here at ASA…

We’re Good, We’re Hot, We’re ASA!

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The Advancing Justice Conference is a national civil rights and social justice conference that aims to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders in one place to address a broad range of issues facing the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It serves as a unique forum where researcher, advocates, direct service providers and other leaders can met face-to-face, talk about their common challengers and find ways to work collaboratively.

From the perspective of this undergraduate student, this conference was one of the most well put together conferences out there: extremely professional, highly organized, and the highest caliber of workshops and leaders present (may I also add the amazing breakfasts to start the day). I have never been surrounded by leaders and professionals who do this work for a living. As a student, juggling academics, work, and organizations including those that deal with APIA issues is a constant multi-tasking rigor. But these people work for our community each and everyday.

I was awestruck by the keynotes, panelists, and workshop presenters who engaged with us. Jose Antonio Vargas was a powerful speaker, narrating his struggles as an undocumented immigrant. It really hit home for me, even though I am an American citizen. Some take away points from the conference were to be the change you want to see. It starts with you living everyday as an advocate. Be a leader. It isn’t just a task, but a lifestyle. We are one community, not numerous constituents. We have to work together and further each and every one of our communities and advocate for each other in solidarity if we seek the justice we want.

Aside from the serious conference, I saw and met friends whom I’ve met at other conferences. It was a great time to discuss what we learned, catch up with each other, and explore the breathtaking city of San Francisco. Late nights of karaoke, reverse charades (Shout out to Dim Sum and Then Sum team!), and heart-to-hearts.

There was an imminent beauty at the end of the conference. I was significantly empowered to bring back the knowledge and insight I gained back to my campus and region. Definitely looking forward to the Advancing Justice Conference 2012 in Chicago, Illinois!

Advancing Justice Conference 2011a testinomial by maasu ecc’s membership outreach co-chair, Vigor Lam

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Experience

2011TIGER MOMS & CHING CHONGSWhy Chinese Mothers are Superior Amy Chua’s excerpt, from the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in the Wall Street Journal took the web by storm as furious readers, both APIA and non-APIA alike, blew up the web with commentaries on her parenting. Read more at http://on.wsj.com/esA57L

Alexandra Wallace’s Asians in the LibraryHer youtube video (http://bit.ly/hCqMsA) consisting of a her rant on Asian Americans prompted many parodies, including this one, http://bit.ly/eQHPrE, that put Jimmy Wong in the public spotlight.

Minneapolis Radio Mocks the HmongA song mocking Hmong people was aired on KDWB 101.3 in Minneapolis. Hear it at http://bit.ly/hnHALa

Jose Vargas’s Life as an Undocumented ImmigrantThe Pulitzer Prize winning journalist outed himself as an illegal immigrant in a New York Times article http://nyti.ms/mqMXBu

UC Berkeley Republican Group Holds Racist Bake SaleAdversited pricing was segregrated by race group. See more at http://bit.ly/pmx5ar

We’re a Culture, Not a CostumeA campaign put on by Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS) Students Teaching About Racism in Society, a student organization at Ohio University, brought to eye the racist extent behind some Halloween costumes.http://bit.ly/o2yPSr

Racist Rant on HmongA frustrated citizen leaves a message targeting the Hmong population on a candidate, Kevin Xiong, who was running for a St. Paul Council seat. Hear it at http://bit.ly/yZqtjW

Chik-fil-A Cashier Calls Two Asian Students “Ching” and “Chong”The ching chongs didn’t end with Alexandra Wallace as a Chik-fil-A employee racistly names two students on reciepts. The original post at http://bit.ly/uieLJk

Deaths of Private Danny Chen and Lance Corporal Harry LewThree fellow Marines have been charged in hazing Lance Cpl. Harry Lew and eight soliers have been charged in connection with Private Danny Chen’s death. Read more at http://lat.ms/rkcCuX and http://nyti.ms/xOB4MD

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Highlights

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APIA Digest

[News]8 U.S. soldiers charged in Private Danny Chen’s death from possible hazing-resulted suicide. Read more at tinyurl.com/7zhh88d

[Program]Asian Pacific Americans for ProgressNominate a candidate you think is deserving to be 2011 Unsung Hero by January 21, 2012 at http://bit.ly/aapi_hero2011

[Scholarship] Apply for the 2012-2013 Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund scholarship by January 13, 2012. Find instructions at http://www.apiasf.org/scholarship_apiasf.html

[Scholarship]Shui Kuen and Allen Chin Scholarship 2012The Asian Pacific Fund is offering two $1,000 scholarships to two restaurant workers, or students of restaurant workers. The application is due March 15, 2012. More information can be found athttp://www.asianpacificfund.org/information-for-student-applicants

[Internship- Unpaid]Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights/The Leadership Conference Education FundStudents will gain real-world experience in policy regarding civil rights and public service. The summer program runs from May 30 – September 1. Apply by April 15, 2012 by sending a cover letter, resume, and writing sample to lighty@civilrights.org. E-mail pr@maasu.org for more information.

[Internship] White House Internship ProgramDesigned to mentor and prepare young leaders for careers in the public service sector, this program places interns in different offices with various tasks. Program runs from May 19 - August 10. Application is due January 22, 2012. More information can be found at whitehouse.gov/about/internships

[Internship]White House Initiative on AAPIs Internship ProgramThis program allows interns to familiarize themselves with a variety of different APIA issues, such as education, health, and labor, by helping with policy action and coordinating events. Applications are due March 15, 2012 for the summer program (runs June 12 - August 12). Learn more at whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/aapi/internships

[Internship]Washington Leadership Program is accepting applications until January 20, 2012 from South Asian college students for the internship program at Congressional offices/Government Agencies taking place June 9 – August 3. Find the application at thewlp.com/wlp-2012-application.html

[Internship]American Progress Internship ProgramInterns will work with Progress 2050 to develop ideas for diverse America. Deadline for the summer program is February 1, 2012. Get more information at americanprogress.org/aboutus/intern/internapplication.rtf.

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The Midwest Asian American Students Union is a 501(c)(3) non-for profit organization that was started in response to a need for political unity among Asian American students in the Midwest. By 1990, there were more than 20 universities in the Midwest that had formed Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) organizations. Some had been around for years; some were in their infancy. Students felt there needed to be an organization that would support the growth of these organizations and organize APIA students in the Midwest for political activism, and MAASU was formed to fill this responsibility. MAASU works to recognize the needs of the APIA community by assisting schools with the establishment of APIA student organizations, promoting leadership among students, addressing educational needs and rights of the APIA community, and developing a channel of communication among APIA student organizations in the Midwest.

The Midwest Asian American Students Union strives to be a leader within the Asian Pacific Islanders American (APIA) community.

The objectives of the Midwest Asian American Students Union are:

•To serve as a resource for schools interested in the establishment of APIA student organizations, APIA cultural centers and/or Asian American Studies programs.•To promote leadership among APIA students through programs including, but not limited to, the Fall Leadership Retreat, and Spring Conference.•To address the educational needs and rights of the APIA community.•To develop and maintain a channel of communication for APIA student organizations in the Midwest through e-mails, monthly newsletters, and networking opportunities.•To assist and encourage APIA students to work toward social change, by providing a forum for social consciousness.•To unite the APIA community across multiple identities.

About MAASU

Mission