On Monday, February 26, 2024 Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American (APIMEDA) Programs and Services and the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APSA) hosted the Coalition for Critical Asian American Studies (CCAAS) 10 Year Anniversary Celebration to honor and celebrate the alumni who helped draft the Open Letter of 2014 written to address and advocate for student demands. These demands include: “the creation of an Asian American Studies Minor program, an Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American Research and Resource Center, increased funding for ethnic study programs, and other requests for increased investment in student resources,” (K. Wayne Yang, 2020).

The celebration was also a way to honor and celebrate the advocacy and activism that took place to pass the Associated Students resolution which consequently helped create the Asian American Pacific Islander Studies Minor Program at UC San Diego and the APIMEDA Programs and Services Office. The original members of CCAAS who attended the event highlighted key aspects of their experience as students, as leaders, and as coalition builders. Most notably, some members discussed the importance of relationship building and coordinated organization as a way to mobilize needs and demands into action. 

Photos taken on Monday, February 26, 2024 during the CCAAS 10 Year Anniversary Celebration.

Photo taken in 2014 after the AS resolution was passed