The Brandeis Asian American Task Force delivered an open letter to University President Ronald D. Liebowitz to spur the creation of a department of Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies. They delivered the letter at the luncheon to celebrate his inauguration as the University’s ninth president on Nov. 3.

The letter, which originated on BAATF’s Facebook page, began circulation via Facebook at approximately 1 p.m. on Nov. 1, in the form of a Google doc that users could edit or add to. At 11 a.m. on Nov. 3, the letter was closed for editing and printed in anticipation of the inauguration ceremony.

Anyone sympathetic to the cause was invited to contribute a letter themselves or to add to what was already written. “We need your voice. Your letter can be as long as one sentence to multiple pages. Your voice is yours,” BAATF’s initial Facebook post urged. Within three days of the letter’s announcement on Facebook, it garnered 35 shares and 16 likes.

BAATF’s original intent was to to deliver the open letter and signatures at the inauguration ceremony, but the group instead delivered the letter at 12:30 p.m. at the Inaugural Luncheon, according to their Facebook page.

The Facebook page also stated that the members of the organization “greatly look forward to our meeting between [President Liebowitz] and the Student-Faculty Working Committee on Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies at Brandeis. We also look forward to meeting the Board of Trustees here at Brandeis University.”

The letter began with a statement from BAATF leader Hin Hon (Jamie) Wong ’17 and included 19 other letters from Brandeis students and alumni, 154 signatures from the Brandeis community and 39 signatures from students at other colleges and universities nationwide.

Wong’s opening statement both welcomed President Leibowitz and stated BAATF’s purpose: “to communicate the urgent need for AAPI Studies and the importance of accelerating the process of establishing an institutional home for AAPI Studies.” Many of the letters from students were personal, illustrating the individual impact the creation of an AAPI department would have on students.

One letter, written by Cecile Afable ’16, described what impact an AAPI department could have on students. “There is a large population of Asian and AAPI students on campus who could benefit enormously from such coursework; being able to finally feel as though one is seen and heard and matters within an academic context generates a powerful feeling of catharsis after a lifetime of dismissal, stereotyping and discrimination,” she wrote.

According to the University’s website, 13.1 percent of the undergraduate population, and 4.8 percent of the graduate population, self-identifies as Asian-American or Pacific Islander. But according to the open letters to President Leibowitz, the creation of an AAPI department could benefit every student on campus, not only those who identify as Asian- American or Pacific Islander.

As a letter written by Lillian Wang ’18 states, an AAPI department “would allow for all students to have an opportunity to learn more about how the AAPI community has always been a large part of American history,” in addition to “countering ignorant assumptions and stereotypes about AAPIs that are rampant across American society.” Brandeis already has departments for other racial and ethnic groups, such as the Hispanic Studies department and the department of African and Afro-American Studies.

This is not BAATF’s first effort to create AAPI courses here at Brandeis. On Dec. 2, 2015, the group published a separate letter encouraging the University to take steps toward an AAPI department. On Dec. 8, 2015, a group of students led by Wong and BAATF rallied outside of the Bernstein-Marcus Administration Center in support of the creation of an Asian American Studies program. This semester, BAATF had a hand in the creation of the course “The Asian American Experience,” offered through the American Studies Department. The course, which has 19 students enrolled, is taught by Prof. Patrick Chung (AMST).

BAATF’s open letter can be found on their Facebook page. Wong and BAATF declined to comment for this article.