---

BY ROSARIO PAZ

In print | Published November 30, 2006

This semester, several new specific cultural groups have appeared on campus. Friends of Taiwan, Swarthmore Organization for Israel and Han, a Korean group, are among the new additions.

Friends of Taiwan

Friends of Taiwan is a new cultural group on campus that is pursuing accommodation of specific needs and interests for anyone interested in Taiwanese issues or inspired to promote the consciousness of a Taiwanese community.

It is “a group on campus for Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American students,” Emily Sun ’09, Friends of Taiwan treasurer, said. She said that it exists in order to foster community for students, in addition to raising awareness about cultural and current events concerning Taiwan. The group has informal meetings over dinner every other Tuesday. One topic of discussion during these dinners addresses what it is like being Taiwanese in America.

Though this discussion might seem to only relate to those of Taiwanese heritage, the group does consider itself open. “As long as you’re interested in getting to know more about Taiwan,” Sun said, anyone “is more than welcome to come to one of the meetings.”

In order to encourage a cohesive discussion among the varied students of the group, founder George Yin ’09 shares a Taiwanese political issue or news article from a current newspaper at every meeting.

“At this point in time, it seems like the U.S. depends on Taiwan for its entry into China,” Arthur Chyan ‘10 said. "Taiwan’s situation is very important. [Friends of Taiwan] is just creating another space for people interested in Taiwan to discuss things like China and Taiwan and their relationship."

Beyond the bi-weekly meetings, the group has additional dinners together off campus, characterized by an even more casual nature that serves to promote unity and familiarity within the group. “We’ve gone to Philadelphia for dinner to socialize amongst ourselves and get to know the people involved a little better,” Chyan said.

“You get to know the other students who have similar experiences,” Sun said.

Due to the distinct differences between Taiwan and the general Asian domain both in cultural habituations, contemporary politics and the elaborate relationship between the two spheres, Friends of Taiwan differentiates itself from other groups but does not attempt to completely sequester itself from the older Swarthmore Asian Organization. Rather, it simply seeks to engage itself in the issues of an evolving country in order to stimulate a curious community.

Sun said that in forming Friends of Taiwan, there is no intention to compare these two groups. “SAO and Taiwan have different purposes for existing as groups,” she said. Friends of Taiwan hopes to attend a Taiwan-related conference in Boston this February. It also seeks to bring some speakers before the group in order to broaden the knowledge and experiences already shared between the members.

These anticipated events “require a lot of planning,” Sun said. “We’ll have to see how things are going at first.”

Swarthmore Organization for Israel

Swarthmore Organization for Israel (SOFI), formerly known as the American-Israel Alliance (AIA), is another new cultural group that formed last spring. It is looking for members that have an interest in anything Israel-related and are looking to share these interests with the school community in order to spread a greater sensibility and understanding about Israel.

SOFI, an open group, allows members to put forth their individual ideas, whether they pertain to social, cultural, educational or political aspects of Israel. Accordingly, SOFI invites people to present their interests and work together in order to put them into action. “If they have an idea or an interest related to Israel and they want to see it happen … we want to help them make that happen,” Louis Rosenberg ‘09, a member of SOFI, said. "We’re trying to reach as many people as possible, so we’re trying to do events related to as many different interest groups on campus as possible," he said.

SOFI has maintained a relatively strong position in terms of its backing and approval of Israel as a country. “We support Israel. We are pro-Israel,” Rosenberg said. “We are also pro-Palestine. We believe we should work towards a peaceful resolution.”

Nevertheless, the group does not necessarily support everything that Israel does. “A lot of members of the group disagree with many Israeli policies,” Rosenberg said. “You can still be pro-Israel. If you support the people of Israel, the Israeli democracy, the freedoms that Israel provides to immigrants from all over the world, then you’re pro-Israel, and that’s what our group is about.”

Some of the events SOFI has planned for this semester include an Israeli-style study break and a concert by an Israeli hip-hop band on Dec. 17.

Han

Han is a relatively new cultural group that concerns itself with Korean-related interests. It strives to promote interactions between Korean-American and Korean international students, to serve as a support group for those who seek it and to establish itself as a place to learn more about the Korean experience.

“Han is a group of people that consists of Korean-American students, Korean international students, students that are friends of Koreans and those students with an interest in Korea,” Jeong Hwan Kim ’07, a member of Han, said. “We try to hold a lot of events related to Korean culture.”

Han is not completely new to campus this year. Nevertheless, in the past the group had experienced a slip in activity and hopes to become more active this year. “It has not been that consistent, but we have been trying to make it more consistent,” Kim said.

This semester, the main focuses of the group have been weekly meetings at the Intercultural Center, film screenings and barbeques. Because a large portion of the members have close ties to Korean heritage, the group likes to acknowledge the celebration of Korean holidays and other aspects unique to Korea that may not be observed on campus otherwise.

“There are a big number of Koreans on campus,” Kim said. “We thought it would be better to have a place where … Korean students feel comfortable and at home.”

Though the Korean identity seems simple enough to identify with, Kim pointed out that there are some distinctions between the Korean-American students and Korean international students on campus. “I hear these stories all the time from different universities,” Kim said. The University of Pennsylvania is one example of a school that has different cultural support groups for these two Korean identities. Kim found it important to bring these two groups together on Swarthmore’s small campus.

Though Kim admitted that originally “there was a slight lack of communication between the two groups,” Han has recently been very successful in maintaining a mutually positive relationship between them. “There is a lot of interaction between the Korean international and Korean-American students. I appreciate that aspect of our group very much.”

In respect to another relationship between two distinct but similar groups, Han and SAO, Kim said, “We don’t try to compete. They are groups on different levels and I think they can coexist.”

In the future Han hopes to bring in speakers that will further promote the Korean culture celebrated within the group to the rest of the college community. Additionally, an idea is in the works for a personal Web site, which will not only serve as the group’s on-campus publication to interested college students, but will also aid potential students, particularly from Korea, in learning more about the college and the Korean community on campus.

---

« RETURN TO NEWS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »