"Students celebrate Asian Pacific Month," The Collegiate Times, Mar 31, 2005

"Students celebrate Asian Pacific Month," The Collegiate Times, Mar 31, 2005

[no text]

"The Asian American Student Union, in collaboration with numerous other student organizations, will kick off Virginia Tech's first Asian Pacific Heritage Month this Friday on the D2 porch from 2 to 5 p.m. Wenlie Ye, co-chair for the event and apparel, housing and resource management major, said Tech is one of the last universities to get involved with Asian Pacific Heritage Month. It's time for the Asian community to stand up and have a voice, Ye said.The event will begin with a parade of flags starting at McBryde Hall, in which participants will hold up flags of Asian nations and banners from their organizations, Ye said. It will then continue on to the D2 porch, where there will be performances as well as information tables. The goal of this event is to create awareness, education and promote unity,? Ye said. ?Awareness as in for the first time the Asian community at Virginia Tech has a chance to promote for Asian culture on a campus level with Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Unity as in allowing Virginia Tech students and organizations to all unite together to celebrate a special historical event. Amy Widner, public relations coordinator for undergraduate admissions, said Tech has a 6.9 percent Asian student population. This represents the largest of any minority group at Tech. According to www.princetonreview.com, James Madison University has an Asian student population of 5 percent, the College of William and Mary has a 7 percent Asian student population and the University of Virginia has an 11 percent Asian student population. These percentages are considerably less than the top Ivy League schools, with Princeton University and Yale University having a 13 percent Asian student population and Harvard University with an 18 percent Asian student population. Like at Tech, all of the schools Asian student populations represent the largest percentages of any minority groups. Since 1983, Tech's Asian student population has only risen from 6.8 percent to 6.9 percent, Ye said. The university and us are working to expand student diversity, Ye said. Diversity expands students' horizons and gives more perspective when it comes to solving student problems.The government actually established the month of May for Asian Pacific Heritage Month, but Tech, along with many other universities, chose April to celebrate it because students were still in school and everyone could appreciate it, Ye said. Dhaval Shah, president of the Asian American Student Union and senior accounting and information systems major, said he really hopes students can make it out to the event and bring their support. This is an historic event for the Virginia Tech campus, Shah said. We would really appreciate it if the students would come out to our kickoff on Friday."

Sam Healy, News Assistant, The Collegiate Times

[no text]

[no text]

March 31, 2005

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]

[no text]