What is NAASCon?
NAASCon is the National Asian American Student Conference. Our goal is to create a national network among Asian Pacific American (APA) students on campuses across the United States to assert our power as a group within this country. NAASCon is not sponsored by any organization or group - we are solely made up of students from various ethnicities around the country who have an interest in Asian American issues.

Who started the organization?
NAASCon was the brainchild of a group of college interns who worked in New York City and D.C. in Summer 2001 for various Asian American organizations, including asianavenue.com and the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA). We saw the need for a national Asian American student conference and could not understand why there has never been one. There are many Asian American students across the country who are dedicated to and interested in Asian American issues, yet there was no place for them to dialogue, exchange ideas, or even simply meet each other on a national level. Of course, various regional and ethnic-specific conferences (ECASU, MAASU, FIND, etc.) provide opportunities for students to communicate, but there has never been a national pan-Asian American student conference. After a summer of being exposed to the issues that affect the Asian American community and recognizing the regions and ethnicities that are often overlooked or underrepresented by the current resources, we realized the necessity of such a conference and network.

Who can join the organization?
Anyone and everyone! Activists and non-activists alike can get involved with NAASCon. Whether you are president of the Asian Student Union or don't even know what APA means, we want you to be part of NAASCon. Our main goal is to provide a network for all APA students, for political, cultural, or social purposes. As a member of NAASCon, you can simply join our listserv to keep updated with current APA-related news and events. If you want to become more involved, you can work on committees or specific campaigns.

What are some campaigns NAASCon has been involved with and how were we motivated to create NAASCon?
The A & F campaign was totally unrelated to the conception of NAASCon. NAASCon was created in August 2001, but the A&F campaign (which began in April 2002) was the first large campaign that we worked on. It was a chance for us to use our resources and connections to spread the word about the issue and to organize students from across the country to form a unified movement. NAASCon encouraged the students to take a stand and voice their opinions, and we worked with a coalition of college students to provide people with tools to stage the rallies and protest against the racist t-shirts. The campaign is far from over, however, and we are still working to meet our goals with the people at A&F. www.boycottaf.comAnother campaign we are currently working on is against the racist programming of Hot 99.5 FM in Washington DC and Clear Channel, the station's parent company. We are a part of a coalition with OCA, NAPALC, KAC, and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.If you would like to contact us about supporting or helping with a campaign, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

How is the organization funded?
This question is probably one of the biggest obstacles we will tackle in planning this conference. We are in the process of getting non-profit status and soon will be applying to many grants and speaking with many corporations about sponsoring our conference. If you are part of an organization or know of one that would be interested in becoming a sponsor for NAASCon's campaigns and mission, please contact us!

Where is the organization based and how do board members and member meet?
NAASCon is based somewhere in that seething darkness which we call the World Wide Web. Our burgeoning website is a central component of NAASCon because it is a place where all NAASCon members can "virtually" meet. Through our Forum, Events Listings, and the popular NAASCon blog, members can get to know each other and find out more about what's going on in other places. We've got A LOT more planned for this little site, so keep checking back!National board members meet once every two weeks for conference calls and chats, where we discuss and vote on any issues that members bring to the meeting.

When is the conference and when will it be?
This is TBD and we will release all relevant information on our site. Stay tuned to our site for more information!

I still have more questions, who do I contact?
Please visit our "contact" page for more information.