More than 30 years after California students protested in favor of creating an Asian-American studies program at several Bay Area universities, the spirit is reaching white-dominated Minnesota.

Beginning this fall, students at the University of Minnesota will be able to take courses that will count toward a newly created minor in Asian-American studies, offered by the American studies faculty.

It's a big victory for the school's Asian-American Studies Initiative, which fought for the past four years to force the university to add Asian-themed classes to the diverse cultural courses, which range from African-American to Chicano studies.

The minor, which is expected to be approved by university officials in time for the spring semester, is a major step toward establishing an independent Asian-American Studies program, something that no Minnesota college has.

The growing interest in Asian-American courses is a natural reflection of Minnesota's increasing diversity, according to Gregory Choy, a professor at the University of Minnesota.

The state's Asian-American population grew by 100 percent from 1990 to 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A large chunk of Minnesota's nearly 168,000 Asian Americans – 12 percent - live in St. Paul. In fact, the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have the greatest concentration of Asian Americans in the interior of the United States, according to Choy.

While the University of Minnesota's Asian-American community can't compare to New York or California's public universities, Asian-American students made up a solid 7.1 percent of the student body in 1998, Choy said.

Since such a large percentage of Asian Americans are college-aged or younger, classes focused on Asian-American culture are a vital part of the self-discovery process, said Julie Suh, a Rutgers University graduate who worked on a committee to create an Asian-American student center at the New Jersey school.

"I think there's a place for these classes. College students do want to reach out and find out more about not just life in their parent's home countries, but about the issues Asian in the United States face," Suh said.