What is AHANA?

"In the world of AHANA, there are no minorities, only HUMAN BEINGS"

African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American

History

The term AHANA was coined at Boston College in 1979 by two students, Alfred Feliciano and Valerie Lewis. These students, acting as ambassadors for fellow students, objected to the name "Office of Minority Programs" then used by Boston College, citing the definition of the word minority as "less than." They proposed, instead, to use the term AHANA which they felt celebrated the cultural differences present in our society. After receiving overwhelming approval from the University's Board of Trustees, the Office of Minority Student Programs became the Office of AHANA Student Programs-although Fairfield University had been using the term AHANA since 1984. In 1990, Boston College, which owns the copyright to the term AHANA, granted Fairfield University official permission to use the concept. Currently over 50 institutions and organizations have official permission and many more use the term unofficially.

AHANA = African-American, Hispanic, Asian and
Native American = People

African
Hispanic
Asian
Native American