New group tries to unify U. Asians

The Asian Pacific American Association of Penn Faculty and Staff (APAA), an advocacy and networking group for Asians and those interested in Asian affairs, was recently formed to promote Asian unity on campus. And about 80 people, including Interim President Claire Fagin, attended the group's inaugural meeting and holiday reception before winter break. The APAA will act as an umbrella group for Asian Americans, according to Joyce Randolph, director of the Office of International Programs and a member of APAA's ad hoc committee. Randolph said there has been a need for an organization like the APAA at the University for a "long time." But members of the various Asian nationality groups who have "different cultural roots" only recently began to relate to one another, she added. This semester, the APAA plans to meet with Asian American student leaders to discuss faculty/student interaction and collaboration on community projects. Randolph said the group also hopes to draft by-laws with help from the Association of African American Faculty and Staff. Joe Sun, Director of the Greenfield Intercultural Center, said he believes the APAA can have a large impact on campus life. "The group is necessary because it will provide Asian American faculty and staff with visibility and support," he said. "An association like this is able to give voice to Asian American faculty and staff who wish to be involved with minority affairs at Penn and the University in general." While the APAA is a faculty group, Sun said, it will serve to inform Asian American students of the institutions, services and resources available to them at the University. Sun added that he expects the formation of the APAA to lead to better identification of the "issues, interests and needs" important to the University's Asian community. Although members of this group are not few in number, he said, they have been an "invisible minority" not very active on campus. Biology Professor Yoshitaka Suyama echoed Sun's sentiments. "It will be nice to get our forces together," he said. "Asian students at the University are very bright, articulate, sensible and sensitive to campus problems. "The University was not quite ready to take up this problem," he added. "The students made it happen. By organizing, they made a big imprint on the University movement." Sun said not all Asian Americans identify in the same way. And, for this reason, individual involvement in the APAA will be dictated by "interest and commitment, not imposition." Wharton junior Tony Lee, president of Students for Asian Affairs, said his group supports the draft objectives and program ideas adopted by the APAA, which include increased communication between campus Asian groups such as the Chinese, Korean and Japanese Students Associations. "There is no conflict between the roles of the APAA and Students for Asian Affairs," Lee said. "We are a political organization, they are concerned with communication and social issues. I'd be supportive of any effort to unify Asian Americans on campus." Although the APAA has been in the planning stages since this summer, it was active in organizing the Asian Pacific American Heritage Week photo display which appeared on Locust Walk this fall.