Kieran Matsuoka
We are halfway through Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and as a member of the community, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate my Filipino identity at UC San Diego. However, I’ve noticed that this celebration of my identity comes at a cost for the representation of my Pasifika brothers and sisters. While I understand that there are difficulties in representing all the nuances of the many identities in the AAPI umbrella, the University historically neglects Pacific Islanders to an alarming degree. The effects of this underrepresentation are reinforced by the University’s shallow efforts to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander students during AAPI Heritage Month.
Pacific Islanders are systemically disadvantaged within the AAPI umbrella, so much so that this type of erasure is expected. Though there are 1.6 million Pacific Islanders in the United States, 0.25% of the college student population identifies as such. This is a prevalent issue for the University’s Pacific Islander community, as it severely underadmits Pacific Islanders, who account for 0.2% of UCSD’s student population, according to its 2024 fall enrollment demographics.
On March 11, the UCSD Bookstore posted an open call for T-shirt designs to commemorate AAPI Heritage Month on its Instagram and Facebook pages. On April 2, it announced the selected designs — not a single one featured Pacific Islander culture. While the bookstore may have had good intentions, this result is unacceptable and antithetical to the purpose of the design competition itself: to celebrate the heritage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
As I swiped through the finalists, I grew increasingly upset when I discovered that not a single one of the seven finalists made any effort to represent Pacific Islander culture. Three focused on East Asian cultural tenets— all indicative of the University’s shallow efforts to celebrate AAPI students. Another, which featured the flags of 12 different Asian countries, failed to include a single flag of a Pacific Islander nation. One may argue that this lack of representation is not the University’s fault, but rather that of the artists who chose not to include Pacific Islander identities in their work.
This argument completely dismisses the University’s role in facilitating this erasure in the first place. Even outside of AAPI Heritage Month, resources on campus intended to serve this diaspora have shown a pattern of overlooking Pacific Islanders, acknowledging them only as an afterthought to other identities in the acronym. For instance, UCSD has a single office that primarily serves Pacific Islanders, but it forces them to share the stage with a whole other slew of identities. With already limited University resources, this office — Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American Programs and Services — provides little attention to the needs of smaller demographics.
This erasure extends into our curricula. In a list of over 50 course offerings for the AAPI Studies program, there is no mention of Pacific Islanders. In fact, there is only one class that mentions the word “Pacific” — HIUS 103: United States and the Pacific World.
This is not the fault of resources like APIMEDA or the AAPI Studies program themselves, but rather a byproduct of UCSD’s historic disregard for the services. The resources are not accounted for in the “Student Diversity” section of UCSD’s website, and the University only established APIMEDA Programs and Services’ physical office at the end of last school year.
Serving as a reflection of this historic oversight, the office’s yearly publication, the “Lifebook” — which intends to summarize all campus resources serving APIMEDA students — barely mentions the Pacific Islander community. It only lists three Pacific Islander-inclusive organizations and a few Pacific Islander-identifying staff highlights.
As a member of the AAPI community who notices these disparities, I am taking initiative and accountability to further educate myself on this community and its rich culture, especially during heritage month. Why isn’t my University doing the same?
First and foremost, UCSD needs to better support APIMEDA and other AAPI resources on campus — only then will these organizations have the ability to promote events centered around Pacific Islander identities and encourage spaces where Pacific Islanders feel seen in our community. Further, these organizations on campus deserve to be uplifted and supported by UCSD administration and students alike.
Most importantly, UCSD must provide better education on Pacific Islander communities and their contributions to the AAPI population’s history and culture — not only during AAPI Heritage Month, but all year round. We are a campus that prides itself on our efforts to promote diversity and our ability to “educate, generate, and disseminate knowledge.” It is time our actions actually reflect that.