Sachiko Arai ’29
Contributing Writer
Mount Holyoke College prides itself for its “inclusive, pluralistic and free of discrimination” community. In fact, it proudly states those exact words on the college website.Yet, in light of the recent Asian hate on campus that has unfolded both in person and on online platforms such as Fizz, perhaps it is time for us to reconsider whether the college is actually keeping true to its word.
In order to discuss this issue, I sat down with Michelle Li ’27 and Angela Kim ’28, the co-chairs of Asian American Students in Action, abbreviated as AASIA. Through the conversations I had with them, what became apparent was how the college has failed to satisfactorily implement Asian Pacific American — APA — studies in its educational curriculum. Not only does this impose negative impacts on the educational experience of Mount Holyoke students, but it has direct ramifications for our Asian American students’ overall college experience here at Mount Holyoke. Through our conversation, we discussed why it is so crucial for Mount Holyoke College to implement Asian American studies in its educational curriculum in order to protect Asian students who compose an indispensable part of the community.
Michelle Li and Angela Kim were both born to be fighters. “I’ve always been kind of like a person who wants to fight the good fight … wanting to take actions … wanting to do something political.” Li told me. Kim also stated how she has “always been very action oriented.”
The fact that they ended up becoming the co-chairs of AASIA at Mount Holyoke is in a way, not surprising at all. It was simply a continuation of what they had always been doing: Fighting for their own people.
“It was pretty apparent,” Kim noted, recalling the moment when she had decided to join the organization. “I was like, okay, these are the bunch of people I can get behind.”
Currently, AASIA is attempting to fight for two major goals. The first is to finally have the College hire a professor who researches the field of Asian American studies and Indigenous studies. The second is to get departments outside of the Critical Race and Political Economy — CRPE — department to also offer APA studies.
They first realized that the Mount Holyoke education curriculum lacked APA studies last semester, when they compared Mount Holyoke’s fall 2025 course offerings between the other five colleges. All the other five colleges offered numerous APA studies courses, such as “Asian American Women Writers” taught at Smith College, or “Intro to Asian American Lit” taught at Amherst College. Mount Holyoke, however, offered none.
Kim emphasized the issue that this educational curriculum “gap” causes. “APA studies is so intrinsically tied to everything … no matter what discipline, it also speaks to how it’s tied to the climate on campus. If you are not learning or teaching APA studies on campus there is going to be a hostile environment for the Asian students on campus.”
Li also shared with me their personal experience where they were “mindblown” after taking Asian American studies at Umass, and then afterwards, discussing with their fellow CRPE majors at Mount Holyoke what they had learned. Oftentimes the other students would “have no clue” what exactly they were referring to, even if they hadn't tried to explain a complex academic concept.
While they have been urging Mount Holyoke to revise its educational curriculum to include more courses within APA studies, so far they have been met with continuous opposition. Li mentions how despite the fact that the CRPE department at Mount Holyoke College has been attempting to apply for tenure faculty lines, he College has been rejecting the applications repeatedly. Even worse, the College has not offered any proper reasoning behind their decision.
Therefore, Mount Holyoke College still has only two professors who teach APA studies, one who is a Five College professor who will likely soon retire, and the other, professor Iyko Day, who is currently on sabbatical.
Their shock was only further increased when they started to rummage through the archives of Mount Holyoke College and learned the shocking truth: They were not the first to demand the college to "establish an Asian American studies program." In fact, there have been numerous protests by students in the past that demanded it.
To this, Li could not hide their deep anger and disappointment towards the college.
“In the archives, student protests in the past have laid out the demands that we want Asian American studies, and [so] why do we still not have Asian American studies?”
While the battle is still ongoing, and one that is still anticipated to be rough, Li, Kim, and many other Asian American students still continue to be fighters. They have been continuously discussing the issue with the provosts at Mount Holyoke College, and have gained support from various people affiliated with the Five Colleges, or by inspiring Mount Holyoke alums such as Barbara Smith.
“I really believe that you cannot be liked by the institution you’re trying to change.” Li states strongly. “I feel like these things need to be said, because students in the past have said them. That’s why we have the College we have today, and we have to keep saying them so the college can become better and better.”
If Mount Holyoke College endeavors to keep true to its words of DEI statement, it cannot continue to keep silent about the absence of APA studies in its curriculum. We can’t keep on chanting “Mount Holyoke College forever shall be,” and fail to acknowledge the continued microaggressions that our Asian community faces at college. Until all members of the community are truly protected and recognized, our College’s DEI statement will continue to be untrue.
Madeleine Diesl ’28 contributed fact-checking.