Wesleyan University Asian American Student Coalition records

The period which these documents cover was a particularly tense one for the University and the Asian American Students Coalition, which seemed to take on a somewhat representative role for many dissatisfied students of all ethnicities at this time.

In January 2002, the Freeman Foundation gifted $1.9 million to the University over four years to fund visiting professors at the University who specialized in Asian American studies. According to a May 2008 Argus article, this grant was in an effort to gauge interest in Asian American studies at Wesleyan. It is unclear the extent to which students were interested in this focus of study; a Wespeak included in this collection suggests that there was chronic under-enrollment in the courses, but the May 2008 Argus article suggests that enrollment was high.

Things came to a head, however, in the spring of 2007. Not only did the initiative expire, but the Board of Trustees also denied Professor Allan Isaac of the English Department—then the only professor with a requirement to teach Asian American Studies in his job description—tenure. Isaac had the support of the English Department in his tenure application, and it reportedly came as a shock to many when he was rejected. Students organized protests about the Professor Isaac tenure denial, highlighting broader issues of cultural inclusion and knowledge in academia and the Wesleyan community at large.

The protests included a variety of methods; students held at least one rally in support of Isaac, and engaged in several paper campaigns. Hundreds of students signed a petition, many handed out pamphlets, and a series of personal letters were sent to the new President Michael Roth to express support for Issac's tenure. The protestors utilized a canary symbol in their materials, referencing the idea of a "canary in the coalmine." According to the protestors, just as the death of a canary can signal a gas leak in a coalmine, the denial of Professor Isaac's tenure pointed to a dangerous cultural heterogeneity in Wesleyan's academic life.

In an unusual move, the Board of Trustees tenured Professor Isaacs in the spring of 2008; professors generally do not get appeals for tenure. This did not entirely appease activists, however. Calls for an Asian American Studies Department continued, and students remained disappointed by the University's failure to make institutionalized change in the study of Asian American issues at Wesleyan.