• Welcome to the Stanford Asian American Activism Committee Homepage!

    What is SAAAC?

    Welcome to the Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC) Homepage! We are a progressive, pan-ethnic organization that furthers the cause of social justice and the humanization of our communities. We do this through education, empowerment, and organized action. SAAAC has a vision of inclusion for everyone interested in the struggle for first class citizenship for all.

    How Can I Get Involved?

    Join Meetings!

    When: Thursdays at 8 PM
    Where:Asian American Activities Center (A3C) Couchroom
    We welcome anyone and everyone interested in discussing and acting upon these issues!

    Subscribe!

    To receive updates, please subscribe to our saaac-announce mailing list.

    SAAAC News and Events

    Current and Upcoming:

    Facing the Shadows: Mental Health and the API Community

    Date: Throughout May! Check description for individual event dates

    Come join SAAAC as we host a series of events during the month of May to encourage dialouge on mental health issues. Food will be provided!
    For more information on the Facing the Shadow (FTS) series, such as the mission statement and individual event descriptions, please visit the FTS section of our website or our Facebook event.

    In order to ensure that we have enough food and space, RSVPs are required to attend Facing the Shadows events. Click HERE to RSVP
    The events are as follows:

    • FTS: Mental Health and the API Community Kick-Off!
      Fri 5/3 @ 3PM, A3C Couchroom
    • Through the Looking Glass: Body Image Perceptions and Issues in the API Community
      Wed 5/8 @ 6 PM, A3C Couchroom
    • Aftershock: Trauma and the Immigrant Experience
      Thurs 5/16 @ 6PM, WCC
    • Confront the Invisible: An Assessment of Stanford Resources
      Mon 5/20 @ 5 PM, A3C Couchroom
    • FTS: Mental Health and the API Community Closing
      Thurs 5/30 @ 5:30 PM, A3C Ballroom

    We hope to see you there!


    Past:

    Event: Listen to the Silence Conference

    Date: Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013

    Check out the website!
    SAAAC will be hosting a workshop on Affirmative Action and conducting the Activist Tour at this year's LTS!
    Activist Tour Description

    The Stanford Activist Tour aims to demonstrate the complicated history of Stanford students' struggle for social justice on- and off-campus, including year-long campaigns for community centers, services and resources for minority groups. An alternative to the official campus tour, the Activist Tour will provide a space to learn from the struggles of previous and current generations of activists, and to confront the injustices, controversies, and community victories in Stanford's past and present. Furthermore, it will provide a channel to take action and identify key resources and actors that allow students to hold the university accountable to its mission for social good. Check back for details on when and where our workshop will take place!

    Affirmative Action Workshop Description

    Most of the API community is not concerned with the issue of affirmative action because the group would be successful anyway; therefore most of American society downplays the role of Asian Americans in the issue. But what's the reality? Part of it: the above perception is a perpetuation and result of the model minority myth, consequently ignoring the diversity in both ethnicity and issues that the API community faces, and in which Affirmative Action can become a key player in advocating for class disparity and underrepresented groups within the community. So why is such an important issue left out of most mainstream conversations in media? And how does this issue affect communities beyond the Asian-American diaspora? Join SAAAC's workshop and lend your opinions and ears to our conversation!

  • Facing the Shadows: Mental Health and the API Community

    Mission Statement

    Mental health is an understated, unaddressed issue. We as the Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC) seek to not only raise awareness and critically analyze the root causes of mental health issues within the API community and encourage the community to directly confront these issues by exploring how an individual’s cultural context and larger institutional systems, such as education and law, influence mental health and produce a culture of stigma and silence.

    To set these goals in motion, we host a series of workshops to shed light on the wide variety of racial, socioeconomic, and gendered contexts in which mental health issues manifest. We aim to critically evaluate the resources available to students on campus and provide recommendations for more appropriate and culturally-sensitive ways to address these concerns in the API community. Through education, advocacy, and support, we hope to stand in solidarity with the community by building coalitions and shifting the perspective on mental health on campus.

    Event Descriptions

    Please check back later for updates on event descriptions and details!

    • FTS Kick-off!
      Date: Friday, May 3, 2013
      Time: 3:00 PM
      Venue: A3C Couchroom Description:
    • Through the Looking Glass: Body Image Perceptions and Issues in the API Community
      Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013
      Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
      Venue: A3C Couchroom
      Description:
    • Aftershock: Trauma and the Immigrant Experience
      Date: Thursday, May 16
      Time: 6:00 - 7:30
      Venue: Women’s Community Center
      Description: This workshop aims to stimulate dialogue on trauma-related mental health issues of API immigrants and/or refugees. Specifically, our panel discussion will address domestic violence through the API cultural lens and war-related trauma. By directly confronting these issues, we will be better informed to take action--advocating for access to culturally-sensitive mental health resources for immigrants and other API populations, and policies that fight against domestic violence.
    • Confront the Invisible: An Assessment of Stanford Resources
      Date: Monday, May 20, 2013
      Time: 5-7pm
      Venue: El Centro Chicano Lounge
      Description: This workshop will critically analyze the main resources at Stanford in regards to addressing mental health issues: Residential staff, Bridge/CAPS. Using various frameworks that include student perspectives, a cultural lens, and institutional systems, we aim to evaluate whether the university provides sufficient resources to support its students.
    • FTS Closing
      Date: Thursday, May 30
      Time: 5:30-7:30
      Venue: A3C Ballroom, partitioned?
      Description:

  • About SAAAC

    Mission Statement

    The Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC) is a student-run, student-led grassroots organization of Asian Americans dedicated to progressive social change. We recognize the existence of global and systemic inequalities and actively work to alter these systems of power. We fight for the humanization of our communities through radical acts of love, consciousness-raising, and unified action across communities at Stanford and beyond.

    Points of Unity

    • As Asian Americans, SAAAC understands and believes that race and ethnicity play a role in the way people are oppressed or humanized.
    • As students, SAAAC believes in the power of student voice and students’ right to attend a university that does not exploit its workers or invest in local and global systems of oppression.
    • As members of a global community, SAAAC does not support imperialist wars against people of color.
    •  struggles to create an anti-heterosexist, anti-homophobic, anti-patriarchal, antiracist, anti-imperialist world.
    • SAAAC stands in solidarity with all peoples who struggle for a humanizing and just world.
    •  believes that people must always be engaged in a process of growth through criticism/self-criticism.
    • SAAAC believes that organizational and personal support is necessary to building a sustainable organization and a socially just world where people can love and humanize one another

  • SAAAC's 2012-2013 Calendar

  • Campaigns

    SAAAC has been and is involved in several campaigns on campus to bring about awareness and change on certain issues. Here is a short list and description of the major campaigns:

    Occupy the Future

    On December 9, 2011, a coalition of faculty, staff, undergraduate, and graduate students operating under the name of Occupy the Future called on the entire Stanford community to come together with a host of groups from the surrounding community for a rally in White Plaza. There were teach-ins throughout the day culminating in performances and a rally.    

    Living Wage Campaign (LWC)

    The Living Wage Campaign is an ongoing campaign that started in 2003 that demands that the university implement a living wage policy for paying its employees. Here are a list of major events in our campaign: 

    2003: SLAC and the Coalition for Labor Justice stage week-long hunger strike to rehire fired worker speaking out for her rights. President Hennessy agreed to the creation of an advisory committee on workplace issues. Nothing came out of this Advisory Committee and the issue was forgotten. 

    2007: Revival of LWC. There is a hunger strike demanding a living wage for hired employees and increased transparency in the subcontracting process. The current LW policy only applied to few workers. 

    2010: Revival of LWC. Rally for the LWC and march to President Hennessy’s Office. The LWC is still ongoing.

    Sweat-Free Stanford Campaign (SSC)

    A campaign that lasted from 2006-2007, it was aimed at raising awareness of Stanford’s use of sweatshop clothing items and to encourage Stanford to join the Workers Rights Consortium and the Designated Suppliers program. A major rally was held on the stair steps and the second floor of the Stanford Bookstore, an area where the clothing is sold.

  • Contact Us!

    Email:

    saaactivism (at) gmail (dot) com

    Mail:

    Stanford Asian American Activism Committee (SAAAC)
        Asian American Activities Center
        Old Union Clubhouse
        Stanford, CA 94305

        To receive updates, please subscribe to our saaac-announce mailing list.

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