In the weeks that preceded the teach-in, a student petition drive was started by members of the AASA. This petition read:
To the Deans of the Claremont Colleges,
As students of the Claremont Colleges, we sign our names in support of the proposal to establish a 5-College Asian American Studies Department. This proposal is the culmination of nine years of student and faculty activism. Establishing intercollegiate Black Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, and Women's Studies in the 1970s were crucial steps toward the democratization of the Claremont Colleges' curricula. The creation of an Asian American Studies Department is vital in continuing this process. We hope that you view these signatures as a significant demonstration of student support.
Signed,
X
As James Nguyen writes, "Although [the fact that half of the petitions were signed by Pomona students] could be used to argue that most of the support base existed solely at but one of the colleges in the consortium, having been involved in the collection process personally, I'd argue that this was more of a reflection of the reality of AASA's organization.... Regardless of how the analyses broke down along college lines, the sheer number of signatures collected still represented nearly one-third of the entire undergraduate population" (68).
This petition was timed to coincide with the AAS Curriculum Planning Group's proposal submission on February 17, 1997. The students believed that IDAAS would be created within the year.
However, the students involved found that their work on the petitions only resulted in inaction by the colleges: "The firm belief was that the colleges were stalling the decision in an effort to "graduate off" the senior class who were presumably the leaders and antagonists behind the student campaign" (69). Because of this, James remembers "quite vividly being at an AASA meeting that spring of my sophomore year, witnessing the hardened leaders of the struggle literally on the verge of tears as the reality that the fight was slipping out of their hands began to sink in" (71). In fact, over half of AASA's leaders graduated in June.
Although there were only 5 or 6 students left in the fall, they nevertheless knew that something had to be done. Consequently, the Balch Hall teach-in was planned. AASA amassed the support of twenty-two student groups and publications to sponsor the community forum as a show of solidarity on the issue of curricular reform as well as the particular case of Asian American Studies.
The format of the townhall meeting was divided into two parts. The first was a PowerPoint presentation, designed by Nguyen and Weston Teruya (Pomona) entitled "There is a Hole in Your Education." This presentation depicted a course schedule slowly burning, with the hole in the middle growing larger each slide. The second part was an open forum Q&A. AASA placed non-Asian volunteers in the crowd for support (and for asking leading questions).
Most of the colleges became supportive of the cause. However, as Nguyen pointed out, there were some who were hesitant, especially Dean Fucaloro of Claremont McKenna College: "Fucaloro, who in all fairness was not the only dean hesitant and resistant to the proposal, was characterized to be enemy number one of the cause" (79). Along with Harvey Mudd, "Claremont McKenna suddenly became singled out and characterized by newcomers to the movement as an evil empire of sorts."
In sum, the success of the Balch Hall teach-in lay in the fact that the protest opened up lines of communication between the students and the various deans. After a few months of meetings, IDAAS was created by a 4-1-1 vote (Claremont McKenna voted "no," Claremont Graduate University abstained).
"For the class of 1999, AASA's third generation of existence, no moment exemplified a greater sense of accomplishment and achievement. Quite literally, history had been made" (89).