Banquet Toasts Asian-American Unity

Amid a sea of ballgowns and suits, eight Asian seniors were honored for their accomplishments last night in the first large-scale collaborative effort between all of the Asian organizations on campus.

“Reflections: 2005,” held at the Sheraton Commander, drew over 200 students for a black-tie dinner and awards ceremony.

“This is our Coming Out Party to celebrate a unity,” said Gary Liu ’06, director of archives for the Asian American Brotherhood, which took the lead in planning the event.

As dinner was served, Liu commented during his opening remarks that the Asian community at Harvard is currently fractionalized.

“We have South Asians, East Asians, Southeast Asians,” he said. “We have Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus...and then those that are Quadded,” he added, jokingly.

Liu said that the goal of “Reflections” is not only to reward the achievements of graduating seniors but also to unify the Asian population on campus.

Liu added that he hopes this represents the beginning of more collaborative events among the Asian-American community.

“People think the Asian-American community is close-knit, but there are so many different groups,” said honoree Joy C. Lin ’05, who is also a Crimson editor.

Liu said that many of the honorees are not necessarily leaders of Asian-American organizations, but that they are Asian Americans who have in a significant way made contributions to the campus.

Following an opening performance by musician Vudoo Soul, Guest of Honor Jean Yu-wen Wu, a graduate of the Graduate School of Education, spoke about her own experience as an Asian American and discussed issues relating to “Asian America.”

Chris Pak ’08, who was part of the Reflections planning board, said that he and other members slept in the Kirkland Grille several times while planning for the event, which was organized in less than three weeks.

The eight seniors honored were Deepa B. Dhume ’05, Yi-An Huang ’05, Jane Kim ’05, Saritha Komatireddy ’05, Joy C. Lin ’05, Vinod E. Nambudiri ’05, Shaw Natsui ’05, and Quang T. Tran ’05. Lui said that the selection committee, composed of non-senior heads of Asian groups, received many nominations from which eight final recipients were selected.

“We hope this event will be cause for bridge-building and celebration, making sure that unity and achievement in our community will continue in the future,” Liu said.

The event was supported by 16 on-campus organizations: the Asian American Association, Asian American Brotherhood, Asian American Women’s Association, Chinese Students Association, Korean Association, Korean International Student Association, Harvard Philippine Forum, Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship, Harvard Vietnamese Assocation, Hong Kong Society, Indonesian Students Association, Japan Society, Organization of Asian American Sisters In Service, Taiwanese Cultural Society, Singapore and Malaysian Association, and the South Asian Association.

—Staff writer Nicole B. Urken can be reached at urken@fas.harvard.edu.