As Dartmouth College sophomore Nicholas Sugiarto flipped through the course catalog last semester, two words caught his eye: “Asian American.” The 19-year-old Chinese Indonesian American didn't know Asian American-focused classes were even an option at the Hanover, New Hampshire, campus.
The biomedical-engineering major ended up enrolling in “Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature" and now wishes he could minor in Asian American Studies. “I never realized how long and storied the history of Asians in America has been,” Sugiarto said. “You also hear about stories that just never made the news or never made it into the standard AP U.S.