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Multicultural center plays host to Asian-American conference

The Midwest Asian-American Students Union is bringing about 400 delegates to KU

By Andrew Wiebe

Friday, March 28, 2008

The Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center will host its first major regional conference this weekend when around 400 delegates gather for the Midwest Asian-American Students Union Spring Conference.

Delegates from 24 schools throughout the Midwest will come to the University of Kansas from March 28 to 30 to attend workshops, a career fair and banquets in the recently completed 7,000 square foot facility.

The University earned the right to host MAASU’s major annual conference last year when its application was chosen. It is the first time the organization held its spring conference as far west as Kansas. Grant Huang, St. Louis senior and AASU external vice president, said the organization wanted to demonstrate to visiting delegates that Kansas was more than agriculture and flat land.

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Photo by Marla Keown

Sharon Beak, Shawnee senior, stuffs packets put together by the Misdwest Asian American Student Union (MAASU) Monday evening at the Multicultural Resource Center located next to the Kansas Union. MAASU is hosting this year's three-day spring confrence that opens with a variety show Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Union.

“We want to show them KU and that it’s a great school,” Huang said. “We want to get out there that KU is doing a lot of multicultural things in the Midwest.”

After a multicultural variety show on Friday night, delegates will attend four workshops on Saturday on topics ranging from stereotypes in the media, interracial dating and voting in the Asian community. The workshops will be presented by a variety of speakers, including actor Parry Shen and local business people.

AASU President Susan Noh, Overland Park senior, said the group chose workshop topics that would apply to both daily life as an Asian-American and societal issues related to being a minority group.

“Its better to have stronger communities, more communication and have a bigger voice out there,” Noh said. “So we do a lot of workshops that deal with leadership.”

Noh said when she joined the organization four years ago as a freshman, she never could have imagined it would have the chance to host a conference of this magnitude.

She said the group had steadily grown from around 15 her freshman year to between 30 and 40 active members today. Officials at the MRC encouraged her group to apply for the event, but she never thought they would receive the bid, Noh said.

“This is almost like a dream,” Noh said. “When we won, we were like ‘what just happened?’ We were so shocked.”

MRC program director Santos Núñez said the conference showcased the hard work and dedication shown by MAASU members and other campus groups. The MRC will also host the 2009 Big 12 Black Student Leadership Conference.

“I think that this is a great opportunity to showcase the commitment that KU has to its student organizations,” Núñez said.

Huang said hosting the conference is a fitting end to his college career. He said the experience of attending his first MAASU spring conference in Ann Arbor, Mich., along with Noh as a freshman was the catalyst for his dedication to the group over the last four years.

The group of 12 paid their own way and despite arriving late because of car trouble, the conference left a lasting impression and began a commitment to improving the University’s chapter.

“We met so many people, and it was the first time I realized there were so many Asian people in the Midwest,” Huang said. “We talked about different kinds of issues that I never thought of and some stuff that I knew but I learned more about. Seeing how other Asian-Americans do things can really empower you and change things.”

—Edited by Samuel Lamb

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