ASA responds to criticism

Due to recent events surrounding the Kappa Sigma party, the executive board of the Asian Students Association believes it is necessary to re-iterate our stance and the actions we have undertaken in response to the party. In fact, the ASA was the first student group to react to Kappa Sigma’s party by sponsoring an open discussion event.

However, the ASA did not participate in the flyering of campus, nor did we host the rally that happened on Wednesday. Our president, Ting-Ting Zhou, was involved in the flyering and played a part in organizing the rally but did so as a concerned student and not in her capacity as president of the ASA. Indeed, these actions were taken by individual students who were outraged at the premise of the party, and they have demonstrated great courage and initiative in raising campus awareness. To attribute these actions to the ASA is not only false, but it also ignores the important role of student activists in bringing this discussion to the larger Duke community.

Additionally, we want to thank our friends and allies in organizations such as the Black Student Alliance, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Center for Race Relations, Lambda Phi Epsilon, Students of the Caribbean Association and Mi Gente who have sent out statements of solidarity. ASA supports the vision of a culturally diverse and accepting campus, and we forwarded the flyers through our listservs in support of this student activism. The party invitation and subsequent materials are symptomatic of racial insensitivity at Duke that can be minimized through responses such as these.

As the Asian Students Association, our mission includes voicing the political, social and cultural interests of Asian students at Duke. While we do not presume to speak for all of the Asian students at Duke, we believe it is our duty as representatives to condemn acts of injustice like the party. If you believe that we have exceeded our capacity, or otherwise disagree, please feel free to voice your concerns. We welcome an open discussion, so please email any concerns to asaatduke@gmail.com.

Remi Sun, Trinity ’14

Vice president, Asian Students Association