Ongoing anti-Asian attacks during the pandemic along with last month’s massage business shootings in Georgia that left six Asian women dead have provoked national conversations about Asian American and Pacific Islander visibility. The debate has renewed an appetite at some colleges for Asian American Studies programs. As student diversity grows, so does the desire for representation in the syllabus. But qualified professors of color say such programs won’t last if they aren’t being offered permanent decision-making power. It often falls to junior or temporary faculty to design ethnic studies courses that may not last beyond their own tenure.
