Chinese American Student Association at Yale

"The Chinese American Students' Association (CASA) is one of Yale's most close-knit organizations since its founding in 1996. It is a smaller community within the larger Yale community. At the foundation of this organization is our families which are made up of freshmen and parental upperclassmen. These families have gone on for generations, leading to one strong overriding family unit - CASA. As the current head of this great big family, I would like to invite everyone to join in our monthly festivities. Come out and have fun with us."

Mitchell Ji
President of CASA

Mission Statement
The Chinese American Students' Association (CASA) is an undergraduate organization formed to promote awareness of Chinese and Chinese-American culture and identity among all members of the Yale community, with special focus on issues that young Chinese Americans face today. We welcome and encourage interested students of any background who share an interest in Chinese and Chinese American culture.

About Us
CASA strives to enrich not only our own membership with the culture and issues that our members are interested in, but also the greater Yale community. We sponsor speakers, discussions and debates on a wide variety of topics concerning Chinese American and Chinese issues that many members of the Yale community are interested in.

Unlike many other organizations on campus, CASA is a multi-faceted organization that really has something for everyone. Our members actually are extremely diverse and their involvement in CASA also varies. Some people make CASA a big part of their college lives, while some choose to participate in only one or two annual events that they find fulfilling. Whatever you choose to do, we hope that you look into what CASA has to offer.

Those of us that are involved in CASA think of CASA as a family. It is a smaller community within the larger Yale community. To cultivate this sense of community, CASA offers opportunities for freshmen to get to know CASA upperclassmen through “CASA families.” Freshmen that sign up to be in CASA families are given two “parents,” who are upperclassmen, and a “sibling,” who is also a freshman. These families are often the basis for friendships that last throughout all of college and beyond. CASA parents take their kids out for good food, give them advice about college life, and act as friends and mentors.

CASA also holds many other social events throughout the year. There is an annual banquet which is a nice dinner and presentation in which one year’s executive board “passes the torch” to the next year. It is always an entertaining event that much of the CASA membership looks forward to. Other annual events are Eclipse, which is our 2nd semester dance, and our ski trip. We also hold study breaks and movie nights, which means free Chinese food and the company of great people. As you will learn, many of the social events at CASA revolve around food. We have a BBQ to welcome the freshmen, a hotpot night around Chinese New Year, a huge cultural dinner in which the board cooks for everyone in CASA, a dim sum mixer with Columbia in NYC, and CASA-wide family days on and off campus that always involve plenty of good food.

While food is something we love, CASA is definitely about more than just food and social events. One of the sides of CASA that often appeals to even non-CASA members is our political side. In the past year, we have hosted lectures by Professor Jonathan Spence and author Eric Liu. We also spearheaded the 150th Yung Wing Celebration Series in collaboration with Dean Dhall and the AACC. These events were campus-wide events that were of interest to many CASA as well as non-CASA members. If you’re interested in Chinese American or Chinese issues, CASA’s political committee is something that you should definitely get involved in.

CASA also loves to celebrate Chinese culture. We have moon cakes for Mid-Autumn Festival, we always have a Chinese New Year celebration, and we make sure to frequently have events to celebrate and demonstrate our culture (whether it is by eating Chinese food or by watching Chinese movies). One of our largest events is our annual cultural show. Around 50 people were involved in production of the show, and about 300 people attended last year. This show draws on the talents of the entire CASA community and is a huge event that involves acting, a Wu Shu performance, Lion Dance, Phoenix Dance Troupe (traditional Chinese dance), a hip hop show, a fashion show, and many other acts. If you’re interested in any of the above or anything related to performance as a matter of fact (ie. lighting, props, etc.), cultural show is a great event to get involved in.

Finally, CASA prides itself on our involvement beyond the Yale community. We volunteer at local New Haven public schools in a Cultural Awareness Program. We have a mentorship with the local New Haven Chinese School, in which the Chinese school kids are paired up with a big sib at Yale. And one of my personal favorite events is our Chinese Adopted Siblings Program at Yale (CASPY), which pairs undergraduates with adopted Chinese children from the tri-state area. The undergraduates are able to form tight bonds with their CASPY sibs and their families (I had Thanksgiving dinner with my CASPY family!). In addition to being very fulfilling to the Yale students that participate in the community events, these events provide a huge service to a larger community beyond Yale.

While I’ve categorized most of our events into social, political, cultural, or community categories, some of our events encompass all of those categories. One of our newest events is our largely successful “Triad Night,” which we have put on for the past two years. This event is a dress-up night in which CASA members get together for karaoke, mah jong, poker, blackjack, and many other games. It’s basically like a “CASA Casino Night.” There are prizes for those left with the most money, and everyone always has a lot of fun. The best part of this event, however, is the fact that we have donated over $1000 to China Aids Orphan Fund every year that we have held this event.

It’s hard to explain in one page just how great of an organization CASA is, but I urge you to give it a chance. Come out to our events, meet the people that make CASA what it is and you will see why we all love CASA as much as we do. CASA puts on great, meaningful events, but the best part of CASA is the people. The people are what make the CASA community and CASA events as great as they are. What that means is that YOU are the future of CASA, and we all look forward to meeting you!