Over 700 students from more than 60 East Coast colleges attended the East Coast Asian American Student Union conference at the University this weekend.
"It was a strenuous but rewarding experience," said Janice Gumera, fourth-year Commerce student and ECAASU Conference chair. "Our planning efforts really came to fruition, and everyone enjoyed themselves."
The conference included speakers, career fairs, higher education opportunities, movies, performances and a banquet.
The theme of this year's ECAASU conference was "Awakening." Organizers said they chose this theme because it was timely and enabled students to gain knowledge of and be presented with the tools to take action on contemporary Asian-American issues.
"We want the students to be equipped with the tools to translate their knowledge into tangible action," Gumera said.
The board specifically wanted to emphasize the Pan-Asian aspect of the conference this year by making an effort to encompass all Asian cultures.
"We hoped to unite the entire ethnic spectrum at U.Va.," Asian Student Union President Huong Huynh said.
Huynh said that more then just the Asian community showed up to volunteer at the conference.
The ECAASU conference board spent the fall 2003 semester doing corporate fundraising for the event and this semester focused on grassroots fundraising through the sale of raffle tickets and date auctions. Huynh said that the board hopes to break even.
Three prominent Asian Americans spoke at this year's conference.
Former NFL player Esera Tuaolo spoke about his personal sexual awakening and his decision to go public with his homosexuality Friday night in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom. He emphasized to audience members that he had the right to be who he is, regardless of his profession.
Sayu V. Bhojwani, the first commissioner of the New York City's Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, spoke Saturday morning in Old Cabell Hall. She is the only South Asian appointed to the Bloomberg Administration.
Bhojwani spoke about Asian Americans' efforts at obtaining political positions, Gumera said. She informed attendees that there are only five or six Asian Americans in Congress. Gumera said Bhojwani emphasized this number does not account for the number of Asian Americans in the American population.
Gumera said the banquet was a highlight of the weekend for her. The executive board transformed Onesty Hall's Cage into an intimate setting where Angela Oh, a lawyer from Los Angeles, spoke about personal, social and political awakenings.
After attending ECAASU two years ago at Duke University, Gumera said she was so impressed that it inspired her to hold the conference at the University this year. She proposed the idea to the Asian Student Union at its next meeting. A team of 14 students created a bid proposal at the Feb. 2003 ECAASU conference held at Georgetown University, where the attendees voted that the conference should be held at the University the this year.
The University of Pennsylvania won the bid to hold next year's ECAASU conference. Their proposed theme is "Impact."
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