A professor in the College of Arts and Sciences is facing criticism from some campus groups that believe she is not qualified to teach a class for the Asian and Asian American Studies minor.

Susan Edmunds, an associate professor in Syracuse University’s English Department, is teaching ETS 315: ‘Ethnic Literatures and Cultures: Asian American Fiction.’ Her class is part of the AAA minor, which is in its first academic year of existence at SU.

The campus group Asian Students in America (ASIA) sent an email to group members April 7 addressing an incident that occurred in late March, when leaflets were dropped in Edmund’s Asian-American fiction course. The email was obtained by The Daily Orange.

A taped poster read, ‘RETURN THE AAA MINOR TO THE STUDENTS NOW!’ according to the email.

George Langford, dean of Arts and Sciences, is meeting with students to hear their concerns about the AAA minor Wednesday at 11 a.m. in his office in the Hall of Languages, according to a separate email sent on the ASIA listserv early Tuesday morning.

ASIA’s name was not on any of the documents in Edmunds’ class, but it somehow became associated with the distribution of the leaflets and poster anyway, according to the April 7 email. Even if the group was not directly involved, it thought there was nothing wrong with the action, according to the first email.

‘The English Department/Administration have stolen the minor. Students must take it back,’ according to the email.

The email stated Edmunds had no educational background in Asian-American fiction. To develop the minor, the email stated that students need to have professors who can relate to the experiences of Asian-Americans.

An email sent to ASIA president Jonathan Chan was not returned. Alan Cheng, ASIA’s co-public relations chair, said the organization does not have any additional comments at this time. Edmunds also declined to comment for this article.

Prema Kurien, director of the AAA minor, said she knows Edmunds has done research and reading in Asian-American literature for a long time, which is why she is able to teach competently in class. She also said Edmunds has taught courses in Asian-American studies, which is contradictory to ASIA’s email.

‘The English Department would not have let her teach a course like that unless they felt she was qualified,’ Kurien said.

Kurien said having knowledge in U.S. literature means having knowledge in Asian-American literature as well. Edmunds’ area of expertise is U.S. literature, and Kurien said Asian-American literature is U.S. literature, as far as she is concerned.

Six students have signed up to complete the minor, Kurien said. The minor consists of 18 credits, 12 of which must be in advanced 300- to 500-level coursework.

An online petition dating back to January also singled out Edmunds and stated she has no formal background in teaching Asian-American literature. The petition, posted online at iPetitions.com, was addressed to SU’s English Department and administration. The petition was co-signed by ASIA, the Asian Pacific-Islander Students in Struggle, A-Line Magazine, the Student TASK Force and the Asian Pacific Americans for Action of Cornell University.

‘Her specialization is in U.S. modernism and twentieth-century U.S. fiction and NOT Asian American literature, even though she has sporadically used Asian American literature in some of her classes,’ the petition stated. 

The petition also demanded that ‘transparency and non-tokenizing’ student participation be involved in the hiring process for the AAA studies minor.

Edmunds completed her bachelor’s and doctorate degree in English at Yale University, according to her staff profile on SU’s English Department website. She specializes in U.S. modernism and 20th century U.S. fiction, according to the website, but has also supervised theses on topics including literature and counterculture, critical race studies and South Asian diasporic fiction.

The movement to create an AAA studies program at SU started April 11, 1997, when a Denny’s on East Erie Boulevard refused service to several Asian-American students and their white friend, who were all badly beaten by a group of white males, according to an article published in The D.O. on July 8, 2009. SU students protested afterward, and Asian-American students tried to get a program they could call their own, according to the article.

A resolution passed by Student Association in March 2010 supported the start of an AAA studies program, according to an article published in The D.O. on March 23, 2010. The AAA minor began in fall 2010, and 13 departments have sponsored it, Kurien said.

Kurien said she has seen the email sent out by ASIA and that once students realized scrutiny about Edmunds was going around, they took the time to tell Kurien how much they appreciated the class.

Students stopped after class would not comment to The D.O.

‘I’ve actually been to her class, and I know her students love her,’ Kurien said. ‘They think she does a great job in class, so I don’t know where this is coming from.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

 

Published on April 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm