Two guys were shooting hoops behind Arizona Stadium
in the hot summer of 2000. In the middle of a break, they
reminisced on the plethora of Asian/Asian American student
organizations at the University of Arizona. Somewhere in their
conversation, they realized none of these organizations dealt
directly with issues of discrimination and racism.

If a hate crime or issue arose specific to Asian Pacific
Americans (APAs), there would be no organized effort to
confront the problem. There also was no APA organization
that devoted itself to the educating others on these issues.
It was time to stop letting others speak on our behalf and to
stand up for ourselves.

This was the beginning of the Asian American Student
Coalition. It was officially founded in the Fall of 2000
and is recognized by the U of A student government.