2004 CUNY Conference on Asian American / Asian Students: Aspects of Social Interaction

• To bring together scholars in the area of counseling, sociology, psychology, anthropology and political science who are engaged in the study of social interaction among Asian / Asian American students in the metropolitan area.
• To attract members of all Asian communities to the conference, particularly students, teachers and leaders from business, community organizations and the educational systems.
• To address the needs of Asian / Asian American students in issues of: international students, native born students, recent immigrant students, ethnic identity, acculturation, leadership development and active participation in campus life.

The conference will address the needs of Asian American and Asian students. Asian and Asian American students suffer from the Model Minority myth in which they are often perceived as bright, successful students without need for academic, developmental, and administrative support. Furthermore, there are great differences within the Asian American subgroups, as well as varying needs between international students, recent immigrants and native born students.

At a CUNY Colloquium held last year, ethnic identity, acculturation, leadership development and active participation in campus life have been cited as the more important issues to be addressed. Other recommendations included focus group interviews of students, consciousness-raising of faculty and staff, and the development of internet accessibility as a way to consolidate CUNY resources to resolve the diversity problem.