Campus to host Asian conference this month

Lights, camera, action . . . That's the theme of the 15th annual East Coast Asian Student Union Conference which will be held on campus from February 26 through February 28. The conference, which is expected to draw over 1,000 students from across the nation, consists of 50 speakers, three comedy performances, several theatrical productions and a dance party. College senior George Huang, the ECASU Conference co-coordinator, said that while the conference is open to everyone, it will focus mainly on Asian issues. "The speakers at the conference will cover such things as anti-Asian violence and Asians in the workplace," he said. "Also, there will be workshops on how students can become involved [with these issues]." Huang added that there will be very prominent speakers at the conference, including Chris Lee, the senior production executive for Tri-Star Pictures, and Assistant U.S. Surgeon General Samuel Lin. "We have people in non-stereotypical Asian fields speaking," he said. "We have fashion designers, film [executives] and the editor of A. Magazine." College junior Lily Loh, publicity outreach chair for the ECASU committee, said that this year's ECASU conference is particularly important because many Asian students have become discouraged in efforts to gain attention for their concerns. "Asian-American issues are at a low point right now," she said. "A lot of people are pretty apathetic. The point of the [conference] is to get in touch with other [Asian-American students] and raise awareness." Huang said that invitations for this year's conference were not limited to East Coast schools. "We made the effort to contact other schools in the West and South," he said. "We wanted to expand the scope of the conference." He said that students interested in attending the conference should pre-register on Locust Walk this week. "The [pre-register] price is really cheap," he said. "$12 for the entire package, all the performances, speeches and the dance." Huang added that after the pre-registration period, which ends Sunday, the price of attending ECASU conference goes up to $25. He said that in addition to registering on Locust Walk, there are also rooms in most of the dorms on campus where students can register. While 10 groups on campus -- including the Chinese Students Association, the Korean Students Association, and the South Asia Society -- are helping support the conference, Huang said the conference is mainly dependent on registration fees. "[The ECASU conference] is primarily funded by registration," he said. "Eighty percent of our budget is based on those fees. We need at least 750 people to register to break even."