To the Editor:

Re: “A3C: Benefits Do Not Outweigh the Costs,” Opinion, March 4

The author’s complaints about the A3C are so unoriginal that they’ve annoyed us students in support of A3C for ten years. (Calls for the center started in the years leading up to the Asian/Asian American Campus Climate Task Force report in 2004, and increased even more after.) Here, we dispel myths that members of our community, both Asian/Asian American (A3) and otherwise, continue to hold about A3C.

I first read about the proposed Cornell Asian/Asian American Center some time last semester. After months of research and discussion, I have yet to find a good reason for Cornell to fund it.

According to the A3C blog, (a3c-cornell.blogspot.com) the center aims to “provide university support for Asian and Asian American students and provide a space for community-building, cultural celebration and the development of an Asian/Asian American consciousness.” This confuses me. What is an “Asian/Asian American consciousness,” and what is the Asian community?