UCLA needs more than just one multiethnic club |
UCLA needs more than just one multiethnic club
Daily Bruin
University of California, Los Angeles
2010-10-11
Salim Zymet
Only one student group promoting multiracialism is not enough for a campus as diverse as ours
Where are you from?
Answering that question can be difficult for some multiracial students. Perhaps you’re inclined to believe that despite your ethnic background, you’re simply an American, born and raised. Maybe you introduce yourself with all of your ethnic background included. Uncertainty may still plague your ethnic and cultural identity.
Enter the Hapa Club at UCLA. Hapa is a Hawaiian word traditionally meaning someone of mixed Asian or Pacific Islander descent – but the club aims to be a place where all multiracial students can come together. As the only club which represents all mixed ethnic backgrounds, it has large shoes to fill, even more so when you take into account that there are over 70 clubs, fraternities and sororities on campus devoted to various Asian ethnicities. I don’t take issue with the existence of these clubs, merely the staggering volume of them…
…If we are to be part of a truly diverse campus, more multiracial groups are going to have to be part of the solution…
…As an American of Indian, Syrian and Polish descent, I hope that next year’s incoming mixed students can be greeted by a more diverse group of ethnic clubs. As it stands now, if they want to join a club they are forced to either “choose” one of their backgrounds to identify as or join Hapa Club…
Read the entire article here.
Tags: Daily Bruin, Salim Zymet, UCLA, University of California at Los Angeles