South Asians seek more recognition

Currently lumped with their East Asian neighbors, natives of South Asia desire their own services and resources. When students apply to Penn, whether they hail from Pakistan, Bangladesh, China or Korea, Penn only gives them one option from which to choose in the ethnicity column -- Asian. Currently Asian-American students are the biggest minority student population on campus, accounting for 25 percent of the freshman class alone. But there are divisions within this minority group that students say go unnoticed. South Asian students think Penn too easily lumps Asian students together, considering them all to be of East Asian origins. In fact, South Asian students account for 6 percent of the freshman class, making them a significant minority group in their own right. "When people refer to Asians they refer to East Asians, and South Asians are sort of forgotten," said College senior Tariq Remtulla, outgoing chairman of the South Asia Regional Studies Undergraduate Advisory Board and co-chair of Sangam. East Asians come from countries such as China and Japan, while South Asian countries include India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The cultural and traditional histories of these two broad regions are very different, making the shared classification far too general for many. South Asian leaders said the available resources for Asian Americans focus mostly on the more established East Asian students, without much attention to the South Asian needs. And only one of the Asian Pacific Students Coalition's 12 constituencies, the South Asia Society, is primarily South Asian. South Asia Society Chairman Raj Ramachandran, an Engineering senior, said that although South Asians and East Asians have similar needs, they also have important differences. "Even though we are similar in our political needs, we are quite different in our ethnic needs," he said. He added, "I don't think the University recognizes the difference at all. There's no separate [check] box for South Asians." Among the resources that South Asian student leaders are pushing for are career counseling services, a meeting place for academic, social and cultural activities and performance space for the many South Asian performing arts groups. Remtulla also said that a large percentage of South Asian students are pre-professional, leading to a need for academic advisors targeting those students. A major recent debate within the South Asian community has been whether to break away from the APSC and form a separate South Asian political umbrella. But, for the time being, South Asian students have decided against this schism, saying they don't want to leave the APSC, they just want equal recognition within the group. "We never want to break away from our allies," Remtulla said. APSC chairman Sammy Sugiura, a Wharton junior, said exclusion of South Asians in the past was not intentional and that the group was striving to increase its South Asian representation. For the first time this year, South Asians have held positions on the APSC executive board. College senior Gaurab Bansal, co-chair of Sangam, said, "The APSC this year has done an admirable and tremendous job in reaching out to South Asians." But he added, "I think still more needs to be done. South Asians themselves need to get more involved." South Asian groups have made some efforts this year to increase solidarity among themselves. Groups such as Penn Masala, Sangam and the Bangladesh Students Association held informal meetings earlier in the semester to discuss supporting each other and co-sponsoring events. Asian-American students as a whole have been pressuring the University for more resources. The APSC and University President Judith Rodin have been discussing a proposal for a Pan-Asian American Community House since last year. Student leaders have said this space would cater to East and South Asians. Greenfield Intercultural Center Director Valerie De Cruz said in America it is increasingly important for South Asians and East Asians to bond together for political needs, but she noted that the two groups aren't coming from common ground. "Traditionally, they come from very different backgrounds," she said. "Culturally there isn't a lot of overlap."

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