From: paulinel (Pauline Li)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: Re: What is Asian ? - soc.culture.asian.american #12746
Date: 20 Nov 92 15:06:48 GMT
Reply-To: ...@cs.utexas.edu:ibmaus!auschs!mirage.austin.ibm.com!paulinel
Organization: IBM Austin
To: paulinel
Originator: paulinel@mirage.austin.ibm.com


In article <1992Nov18.020033.21003@tamsun.tamu.edu>, achin@math.tamu.edu (Andrew Chin) writes:
> In article 11599@panix.com, sieh@panix.com (Lui Sieh) writes:
> 
> >There are many reasons for socializing or organizing.  Hoyt Sze's
> >recent diatribe in Asian Week against apolitical Asian American
> >organizations misses the point (not surprising) in why people associate.
> >There are cultural and economic reasons as well as political ones.  They
> >are just as "legitimate".  And these organizations serve as useful a purpose 
> >as political organizations.
> 
> But frequently the act of deciding to be apolitical has political ramifications.
> For example, consider Alpha Chi at the University of Texas at Austin.  When
> we were trying to organize AA representation at a function which had been
> co-sponsored by Alpha Chi and eight other Asian and Asian-American student
> organizations, we had the support of the other eight groups, but Alpha Chi
> attempted to veto our right to be at the function, since it would risk their
> involvement in a political activity.
 
I was one of the officiers of Alpha Chi at UT Austin during this time, and to my recollection, we  were all for 
support of AA representation on campus. However, it clearly stated in our organization's 
charter that political involvement of any kind was prohibited. I was not a charter member so I don't know 
what the rational for that was.  Our responsibility to our members was to provide social
interaction.  If they wanted to be politically active, more power to them, but our organization
was not the proper forum.  As you said, there were eight other organization of campus who
had much closer ties to the university administration and whose charters permitted them
this freedom to voice their opinions.

> Meanwhile, social organizations like Alpha Chi continue to be recognized
> by the university administration as the *only* legitimate voice of the AA
> community, because AA students, just like all other American students,
> are generally more interested in partying than politicking; hence the
> party clubs tend to be much bigger than the issue-oriented groups.  Fine.  

To set the record straight, I don't think Alpha Chi was ever considered by the university
as the only legitimate voice of the AA student community. This is not a slam against
Alpha Chi, but get real. We were strictly a social organization. People knew that.  We
never projected any other impression.  However, that's not to say other AA organizations
don't confuse the issue. 

> But when they're asked by the administration for input on race issues, 
> they should pass the responsibility on to interested people, rather than
> taking the call, dropping the ball and letting AAs continue to go unrepresented.

I agree interested parties should be contacted.  It is sad that AAs are unrepresented. 
 
> We have the same situation here at Texas A&M with a party club called the Asian-American Association.
> A name like that puts a huge damper on any attempts 
> by AA leaders to organize.  It also establishes the club as something it's not:  
> the official voice of AA students.  It's no wonder AAs have been completely disenfranchised from the
> multiculturalism debate again this year.  I.e., there 
> is for the first time a serious proposal for a required course on the American 
> minority experience beginning in 1993-94.  The students involved in the drafting 
> of the proposal were white, African-American and Hispanic.  The AAA had been 
> contacted but had failed to respond.

Are there not other registered AA organizations on A&M's campus? Did anyone scan this
registery and contact all appropriate organizations? It sounds like you are singling out
AAA. What happened to everyone else? Perhaps their name was not the best choice. But
what's in a name?  You just said Alpha Chi was recognized as by UT as the only legitimate
voice of the AA students.  Certainly the name does not connotate anything remotely related
to AAs. If anything, I would be inclined to think that it was a fraternity.  My point is that  it's 
not the name, it's the people, and the purpose of the organization.  If you don't have people
who are interested in the cause, that's where the failure is. 

>
> Lead, follow, or get out of the way.  Unfortunately on most campuses,
> AA party clubs are in the way, and they act like they own the road.  In fact, 
> they're probably the single biggest obstacle to AA student activism.

I disagree here. Party clubs have their place on campus. They are not "in the way".
The single biggest obstacle to AA student activism is apathy and ignorance.  Don't
blame party clubs for trying to provide a way for students to get away from the drudgery
for a while.  As with any kind of political activism,  give me a reason to get involved and
I will. 

-- Pauline Li



-- 
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Pauline Li                           Development Environment Tools
IBM                                  Phone: 512-838-8024, t/l 678-8024
11400 Burnet Road, IMAD 9631         Unix: paulinel@austin.ibm.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american