The 13th Biennial Midwest Asian/Pacific American Conference took over Wilder, Warner Concert Hall and Craig Lecture Hall this past weekend. The conference, which boasted a wide range of workshops and performances, was attended by scholars, Oberlin professors, community organizers, Oberlin alumni and student allies from nearby colleges.

A meta-theme emerged early in the conference of bridging academia and higher education to communities.

The panel, “The Struggle for APA Studies,” brought out former Oberlin APA activists such as panelist Deanna Jang (OC ’79), current Associate Director of Admissions Jill Medina (OC ’88), kt shorb (OC ’00), Jane Lee (OC ’03) and Sharon Tantoco (OC ’02). The workshop focused on strategies that could be used to maintain an active commitment to the movement.

The topic turned to locating sources of institutional support for APA students in the panel, “APAs in Higher Education.” Panelist Tommy Moon, Director of Asian American/Multicultural Affairs, called on faculty of color to step forth and collaborate with college student affairs offices such as the Multicultural Resource Center. Panelist Pawan Dhingra, Oberlin Sociology professor, emphasized the role of such centers to “translate” academia to communities, acting as a bridge between theory and practice.

In the discussion, “Recreating Our Visibility; Deconstructing APA Images,” former Oberlin professor Janette Roan spoke of the grassroots support for APA movies like Better Luck Tomorrow and The Debut that made it possible for these films to succeed in the film industry.

Keynote speaker Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams, energized the more than 150 attendees at the banquet, saying, “Stop being so fucking polite. Speak your mind.”

Zia also addressed events that she called “flashpoints” that rally communities of all Asian Pacific American identities. Zia referred to the USA Patriot Act, rights of native Hawaiians, conflicts between ethnic communities such as the Black-Korean conflict, Miss Saigon, Abercrombie and Fitch and Wen Ho Lee, among others.

The conference ended with the panel “Youth Organizing in the APA Community.” Panelists discussed creating coalitions around issues that affect various communities, such as undocumented students and immigration.

Conference organizer junior Rashne Limki, said the results of the conference exceeded her expectations. “The issues discussed at the conference were even more pertinent to us at Oberlin than we had expected or intended. A lot has come out of the conference that we can build on,” Limki said.

Caroline Jackson-Smith, Acting Chair of African American Studies, attended the conference and saw it as part of the struggle for APA studies at Oberlin.

“The students have really extended themselves to have a way to bring in experts and to have a place where we can learn more and be reminded that we need to have more of an infrastructure for doing this here,” Smith said.

The Biennial APA Conference began in 1972 as a student initiative to institutionalize APA studies at Oberlin.

Performances at this weekend’s conference included a one-man show at the Cat in the Cream by alum kt shorb, and a poetry reading/saxophone performance in Warner Concert Hall by Fred Ho and Magdalena Gomez. Crystal Liu showed her film I Think in White to a diverse audience at Craig Lecture Hall.