The Asian American Student Union held its official kickoff meeting Wednesday at the Red Gym to celebrate the relaunch of the group.
Created 30 years ago, the organization ceased to exist after it was absorbed by another student organization, the Asian Pacific American Council. Last year, APAC disbanded and left a void that AASU hopes to fill.
It's really a rebuilding and reconstituting year for our foundation '¦ We're trying to build a stronger groundwork so that it won't fall apart again,"" AASU board member Stella Luong said.
Luong is part of a group of eight upperclassmen who have banded together in hopes of resurrecting the group and uniting the UW-Madison Asian-American community.
""Our current goal is to build membership and participation,"" board member Kimberly Cho said. ""We want to make sure we maintain an academic base, an organization base and social community all together.""
The group plans on hosting a number of discussions addressing current issues Asian-Americans face, as well as drawing attention to issues on campus.
""We want to have a voice so that students know that we are interested and working toward a better goal,"" Luong said.
Another focus of the group is to increase support for the Asian American Studies Program. Many professors have left the program, and student enrollment in the program has dwindled.
""Unfortunately, this is an example of how small the department is, because most of the faculty in that department are in other departments as well,"" Cho said.
Peggy Choy, who helped launch the Asian American Studies Program, was one of several speakers on Wednesday.
""I hope that they will go in a new direction than other Asian student organizations have gone in the past in terms of their vision,"" she said.
The group plans to publish a cookbook later this year with submissions from other ethnic student organizations on campus to unite and produce a useful product for the entire campus.
