Historic addition to curriculum reflects ongoing racial reckoning
Written by John Chadwick | SAS Senior Writer
Asians make up about 23 percent of the Rutgers student population. The students above participate in a Living Learning Community to enhance students’ knowledge of the diverse lived experiences of Asian Americans.
Jillian Cuzzolino knew the time was right to push for change at Rutgers University.
It was spring semester 2021, one year into the Covid-19 pandemic and a time when attacks against Asian Americans were surging nationwide.
Cuzzolino, a School of Arts and Sciences student and a leader in the Rutgers Asian Student Council, began laying the groundwork for a program she had long envisioned for Rutgers: a minor in Asian American studies.
“So many things were becoming salient to everyone, including the urgent need for political empowerment and personal understanding,” says Cuzzolino, a senior majoring in political science. “The minor was our way of taking back our narrative and channeling our energy into something positive, productive, and long-term.”
Asian American students at other schools felt the same way, especially during a time of racial reckoning informed by the Black Lives Matter movement. Dartmouth University students circulated a petition and called on the school’s leadership to increase offerings in Asian American studies, saying such programs were “central to our liberal arts education.” Students at Davidson College in North Carolina and Georgetown University are also seeking Asian American studies programs, The New York Times reported.