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Organization In December 1996, a group of students in the Washington, DC area decided that it was time Arab-American students across the country join together to form a national network of Arab Student Associations (ASAs). This network, they envisioned, would strengthen already established organizations while providing support for emerging university associations. As a union, ASAs would share resources and information to strengthen their capacity as educational, cultural, and political groups in their respective communities. Today, this vision is well under way. In its first two years, a solid base was formed in the DC area while introducing the idea of a national union to associations across the country. The concept caught on quickly and after just two years, in January 2000, the Union of Arab Student Associations (UASA) put on its first national conference. The program included speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities for students to share ideas and gain further insight into the potential successes and challenges that would lie ahead in promoting an Arab-American agenda. One year later, in January 2001, numbers more than doubled when students from over 20 states across the country attended the UASA conference. It became apparent that "going national" was not only a good idea, but a must if Arab-Americans were truly to make a long-term impact on American society-both culturally and politically. It was at this milestone that the founders of UASA, now older, decided it was time to form the Union\'s sister organization. While the new organization would support student efforts, it would also be a channel through which alumni and professionals could step up their activism and focus their activities to reflect the experiences, needs, and resources of an older, more established working base of members.
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