Talk to focus on Asian– American, international students in Bloomington

The Asian Culture Center is offering the fifth installment of its weekly talk series, “Who are Asian-Pacific Americans?” with a lunch discussion focusing around “International Students and Asian Americans.” \nThe discussion will begin at 12 p.m. Friday at the Asian Culture Center. The event, sponsored by the Asian American Association, will address important issues and generalizations surrounding the Asian student community at IU.\n“Since a very high number of racially Asian students at IU are international students, we have a tendency to assume that anyone who looks Asian is from Asia,” said Lori DesRochers, Asian Culture Center graduate assistant and student outreach coordinator. “In reality, of course we have Asian students who are born and raised in Indiana, only speak English and don’t know anything about Asia.” \nThe discussion will be entirely student-led, DesRochers said, by senior Kenny Tang and freshman Kim Sarabia.\nThe students will foster discussion about international and domestic Asian students, DesRochers said.\n“It’s an important topic, given the fact that even within the Asian-American community there is confusion about who can or should call themselves ‘Asian American,’” she said. “The question is, what are the differences between those students?”\nThe Asian Culture Center invites all students and faculty to participate, regardless of their ethnicity or race. Since it is part of the culture center’s noon-time talk series, lunch will be provided \nto participants.