New leadership for Asian Pacific students

On Wednesday night, the Asian Pacific Student Coalition elected a new board, with College junior Benjamin Alisuag serving as chairman.

The APSC serves as an umbrella organization for 20 student groups on campus. The group acts as a liaison between the Asian Pacific community and the University administration.

Alisuag sat down with The Daily Pennsylvanian last night to discuss his plans for the upcoming year.

Daily Pennsylvanian: Why did you decide to run for the chairman of APSC?

Benjamin Alisuag: I've been an active member [of APSC] for the past two years. In that time I feel I integrated myself meaningfully in the community... I feel that this will help me represent the APSC to the greater University.

DP: How do you see the APSC's role on campus?

BA: I think it serves as the main venue for the Asian Pacific experience and relaying that [experience] to the administration. It serves as the main liaison between the AP community and the administration.

DP: What is your agenda for the upcoming year?

BA: I think my main goal is working toward creating a more accurate representation of Asian Pacific students on campus. I want to increase the number and visibility of Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders on campus.

I definitely want to maintain what APSC has done with the campus climate survey and with issues of mental health.

I also want to increase recruitment and retention of Penn's Asian Pacific faculty.

DP: What do you see as the greatest strength of Penn's Asian Pacific community?

BA: I definitely admire the fact that the Asian Pacific community is so diverse. It's so beautiful to see them come together and form one coalition.

DP: What are your plans in regards to the other minority groups on campus?

BA: Definitely, as a board, we want to strengthen our relationships with the four other minority groups. But we also want to work with other student groups such as Undergraduate Assembly Steering.

The other members of the board are:

n Vice Chair: College junior Pratik Patel

n Vice Chair of Political Affairs: College freshman Justin Ching

n Vice Chair of Cultural Programming: College and Wharton sophomore Pia Banerjee

n Vice Chair of University Relations: College and Wharton freshman Anthony Leem

n Vice Chair of External Affairs: College sophomore Tanya Pavri

n Vice Chair of Communications: Nursing freshman Therese Parker

n Vice Chair of Development: Engineering sophomore Andrew Xue

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