San Diego State University will establish Asian American Studies Department

SDSU

SDSU students on campus.

With AAPI students making up 13% of the 31,000 students at San Diego State University, the school is playing catchup in creating an Asian American Studies Department.

The California state university (CSU) is committed to filling what has been a "glaring gap in the inclusiveness of ethnic studies," according to Associate Professor and Deaprtment Chair of Sociology, Minjeong Kim.

Currently, CSUSD has only three Asian American courses, says Kim.

The Asian American Studies department would offer majors and new curricula covering more than an intro to Asian American history.

Proposing new courses will be crucial to building the department. A search for faculty has already been launched and is in its final selection stage.

The two newly hired professors will be responsible for building the Asian American Studies department, reported The Daily Aztec.

“I’m hoping that all our students will have the opportunity to really dig deep into knowing APIDA history,” said Dr. Virginia Loh-Hagan, member of the faculty search committee. “I think that’s important because I think that ignorance is one of the root causes of anti-Asian hate. The more visibility and more understanding we have of people, the less likely we are going to suffer from discrimination and hate.”

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