SU hosts celebrations, symposia, remembrances during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

SU hosts celebrations, symposia, remembrances during Asian Pacific American Heritage MonthApril 11, 2007Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

Syracuse University is the site of a series of April events marking Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, organized by Asian Students In America (ASIA), a University-recognized student organization; the student members of the Denny’s Incident 10-Year Remembrance Committee; and the Office of Multicultural Affairs, in collaboration with the South Asian Center, the Korean Student Association, the South Asian Student Association and the LGBT Resource Center.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is a national commemoration that SU intentionally celebrates several weeks early, thereby allowing all students, faculty and staff to learn about the significant contributions of Asian Pacific American people and to have dialogue about important issues.

Among the scheduled events are remembrances of the 10-year anniversary of the April 11, 1997, incident at a Syracuse Denny’s restaurant, in which a group of Asian American, Asian and white students were attacked in the parking lot. This morning, in an address to student leaders, Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor praised students for using the lessons of the past to solve present problems and announced that the University will form a committee to explore ways in which ongoing commemoration of the incident can shed light on issues facing Asian Pacific American students.

Students have organized numerous opportunities for public remembrance and discussion. These include a Remembrance Circle, on the Quad, today at 2 p.m.; the circle will give participants the opportunity to speak out about their own racial experiences and educate the community on the importance of becoming agents of social change to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. Students, faculty, staff and members of the Syracuse community will form a circle representing unity in confronting bias and hatred, and will read a series of personal, anonymous narratives representing individuals’ encounters with ignorance in today’s society.

Following the circle, students will reflect on the incident and remembrance event at a panel discussion at 5 p.m. in Room 138 of Lyman Hall. The conversation will focus on what students can do on an individual level and learn about how they can use University resources to prevent or deal with bias-related incidents affecting the campus community. Parking for these events is in the Irving Garage and other paid parking lots on a space-available basis.

Other Asian Pacific American Heritage Month events include:

Thursday, April 12, 5:30 p.m., Kittredge Auditorium, Huntington Beard Crouse Hall — “Paving the Way Part II: Asian American Alumni in Non-Traditional Careers.” For this career panel, Asian American alumni will talk about how they got into their chosen professions. This will focus on unexpected career paths for Asian Americans, including broadcast journalism, higher education and retail management.

Friday, April 13, 5 p.m., Room 114, Hall of Languages — “ASIA Workshop: Fighting Against Ignorance.” In ordinary, everyday interactions, students repeatedly encounter instances of discrimination and prejudice on the basis of race, sexuality, gender and disability. This workshop will focus on responding to and dealing with ignorant and hurtful comments, as well as more violent bias-related incidents.

Thursday, April 19, 5:30 p.m., Kittredge Auditorium — “Paving the Way Part III: The Asian American Student Experience at SU.” This event, sponsored by OMA and the LGBT Resource Center, will discuss the campus climate for Asian American students at SU.

Friday, April 27, 5 p.m., Room 214, Hall of Languages — “Asian American Community Speak-In.” Asian American students, faculty and staff, along with their supporters, are invited to discuss their experiences and the issues facing Asian American communities locally and globally.

For a complete calendar of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month events, contact OMA at (315) 443-9676.