Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Student Center

The Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Student Center (APIDASC) serves students with heritage from a variety of backgrounds that are distinct in terms of culture, language, religion, and history.It hosts academic, professional, and social programs throughout the year to enhance the student experience, support student success, and foster a sense of belonging at UW-Madison. The center is a resource for all students.

Donate to the APIDASC

A group of 6 students pose for a selfie in front of a photo booth.

Two students stand in front of a Wisconsin Union sign, each holding an industrial sized potato masher.

Students wave their hands as they dance.

A student weaves a piece of ribbon through a loom as part of a community art project.

Location

Outside of the APIDA Student Center, with students standing at tables inside the Center.

The APIDA Student Center is a physical space to study, meet, and work. It is located within the Multicultural Student Center (Red Gym), in the North Mezzanine. You can access the space via the stairs, or through the north elevator from the first floor.

Special Features of the APIDA Student Center:

Library including fiction, nonfiction, and books from past guest speakers
Posters from all past APIDA History Months celebrated on campus

History

In September of 2017, APIDA students launched the inaugural APIDA Heritage Month Planning Committee. Around that same time, Riley Tsang and Shannon Thao began actively lobbying for an APIDA Student Center (APIDASC). A committee created and led by Tsang and Thao researched centers at other Big Ten schools and developed a proposal for the APIDASC. This work was inspired by the recent student activism happening on campus that resulted in the establishment of the Black Cultural Center (BCC) and developed in collaboration with the other student activists working to establish the Latine Cultural Center (LCC, fka Latinx Cultural Center).

They used the momentum of each other’s projects to build on their own individual efforts, forming a broad student coalition in solidarity with Latine, Indigenous, and Black student activists. The Asian American Studies Program and their faculty and staff were also ardent supporters for the establishment of the APIDASC. As a result of the students’ activism, the university agreed to establish startup spaces for the APIDASC and the LCC in the North Mezzanine of the Red Gym. These spaces were first opened in the fall of 2018. When thinking about these two spaces, the students active in launching the centers emphasized that it was important to note that these new centers should be thought of as startup spaces, not finished products, as there are still many ideas for growth, with an end goal of securing permanent homes for the identity centers. The student activists who worked to establish the APIDA Student Center served as the first student interns of the center and were titled community organizers.

A year later, the first professional staff member was hired and started in the fall of 2019. Today, the APIDASC is staffed by one full-time professional staff member and two student interns: a Programming Assistant and the APIDA Heritage Month Chair.

Programming

As part of the MSC, the APIDASC is supported by staff that work with students from many different backgrounds. They advise on student programming, including Heritage months, well-being, and academic resources.

The APIDA Student Center hosts a variety of events, programs, and collaborations throughout the year to uplift and celebrate APIDA identity, engage and support student success, and encourage dialogue and conversation about important topics. Some featured programming include:

VisibiliTea is a series of discussions throughout the academic year. The number of sessions and frequency of this discussion group depends on the current student body and need for discussing topics specific to the APIDA community. Such topics have included: Addressing Anti-Blackness, Microaggressions, Model Minority Myth, APIDA Representation in Media, Civic Engagement/Voting, etc., as well as any trending topics in current media. VisibiliTea is a play on words – “Visibility” and “Tea”. The topics chosen are to highlight and raise awareness of important issues and/or topics within the context of Asian American/APIDA lived experiences. This is done all the while enjoying the company of participants over tea or boba tea.
Hyphen-Nation is a book club that centers APIDA voices in various forms of books, including novels, memoirs, graphic novels, poetry, and more. While media representation of the APIDA community has often relied on stereotypes and tired tropes that do not capture the diversity and complexity of the community, nowadays, there is more APIDA media to consume than ever before. This discussion group offers students the opportunity to pick up a free book and provides a space for folks to delve deeper into contemporary APIDA literature and to facilitate conversations about how these texts can represent the complexities and hyphenations inherent in an APIDA identity.
Study Break with the Asian American Studies Program (AASP) features boba and cookies and is typically scheduled for a time where many finals and/or midterms are occurring. Its purpose is to provide a space in community for students to step back from the rigors of academia and take a mental break before delving back in. In addition to the snacks, the event offers de-stressing activities like coloring, painting, origami, and bracelet making. At times, opportunities to shift focus from academic to career prep have been offered by hosting resume workshops alongside this event.
The APIDASC endeavors to support and bring opportunities for students to engage with a variety of content that guest speakers can bring, including both UW-Madison staff and faculty and featured guests from off-campus. Past guests and topics have included Professor Lili Johnson (transracial adoptee experiences), Priti Srivastava (Yoga, Speculative Fiction, & Liberation), and Wajahat S. Khan (international journalism).

Student holding painting they created of yellow circles and triangles on a blue background.

APIDA Heritage Month

The purpose of the APIDA Heritage Month (APIDAHM) is to celebrate and highlight the cultural, historical, and lived experiences of Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans in the United States and broader diasporic communities. Campus celebrates APIDAHM in April instead of the nationally recognized month of May due to the majority of students leaving campus after graduation in early May.

History

The earliest recorded celebration of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month – formerly “Asian American Month” – at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was in 1991. In September of 2017, APIDA students launched the inaugural APIDA Heritage Month Planning Committee–a student-led committee responsible for the campus-wide celebration of APIDA Heritage Month each April. Their focus was to celebrate diverse APIDA identities and cultures, build community, and raise awareness of APIDA issues on campus.

APIDA Heritage Month Planning Committee

The APIDAHM Planning Committee (APIDAHMPC) organizes and coordinates APIDAHM programming. The APIDAHMPC is made up of a chair (MSC intern) and current UW students who serve on subcommittees. The APIDASC Program Coordinator advised the planning committee. Students are invited to join the planning committee in the fall to start planning for the following spring’s heritage month.

Any currently enrolled degree-seeking student is welcome to sign up to join the Planning Committee. Students do not need to be affiliated with a registered student organization affiliated with the MSC or APIDASC. Recruitment for the Planning Committee begins in the fall semester. Advertising for this occurs on the APIDASC Instagram account and electronic newsletter. Membership is voluntary, but students are required to attend scheduled in-person meetings leading up to April. Students who are studying abroad may participate at the discretion of the APIDAHM Planning Committee advisor.