The Political Action and Education Committee (PAEC) is committed to the intellectual, cultural, political, and social development of the Asian American community. As an affiliate of Yale’s Asian American Students Alliance (AASA), PAEC serves as the primary political voice of the Asian American student community. PAEC comprises of the political chairs of AASA-affiliated groups: Chinese American Stu
dents’ Association (CASA); Japanese American Students Union (JASU); Filipino Club at Yale (KASAMA); Korean American Students at Yale (KASY); Muslim Students Association (MSA); South Asian Society (SAS); Taiwanese-American Society (TAS); and Vietnamese Students Association (ViSA). Serving as a responder to acts of racism, PAEC has utilized political action in the form of letter writing campaigns and petitions—in 2005, PAEC managed to have 600 letters signed by members of the Yale community in response to the Tsunami Song, a parody of the tsunami disaster that was aired by HOT 97, a New York based radio station. PAEC also serves as a vehicle for increasing political participation within the Asian American community through activities such as voter registration drives on and off of campus. To spur education of Asian American issues, PAEC holds multiple discussions and panels every year. PAEC has invited Asian American activists such as New York Councilman John Liu, spoken word artist Beau Sia, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) attorney Khin Mai Aung, journalist and scholar Helen Zia, and Bush administration official Betty Wu to discuss issues ranging from the future of Asia America to racial violence in American schools. PAEC also publishes InformAsian, a monthly publication that discusses a myriad of Asian American topics involving politics, culture and history.
