Diversity, diversity, diversity. One of the most talked about issues on campus this semester has left some minority students feeling overlooked and ignored.

Theresa Thomas, sophomore in graphic design, was born in Thailand and lived there for eight years before moving with her family to Des Moines. She said the biggest hurdle she faces at Iowa State as an Asian American student is being voiceless.

“[It’s hard not] getting recognition and acknowledgement from the university and ISU as a whole,” she said.

Besides not getting recognized, Thomas said it is also difficult fighting the stereotypes people have of Asian students. “People think we’re docile, passive and apathetic.”

Alyssa Xiong, a junior in elementary education and English, said the most common stereotype she notices is that many people assume Asian students are all alike.

“There are so many different Asians. They assume we’re smart, that we all speak the same language,” Xiong said. “They think we’re quiet, not friendly. That’s not true, we do say ‘hi.’ Both sides have to try.”

Grif Kolberg, a junior in business, said, “When I first came [to ISU], to meet somebody they don’t want to approach you and say ‘hi’ because they think you’re an international student and won’t be able to speak English.”

For some Asian-American students, more diverse backgrounds left them unprepared for the conservative Midwest.

Xiong said Iowa is very conservative. When she first moved here from California she noticed how Iowans tend “to stick with their own kind.”

“I see a lot of racism here, too. In California there were a lot of people (Asian Americans) to stand up for what they believe. But there were also other people to help the Asians,” Xiong said. “Here it’s hard to have a Caucasian stand up with you.”

Just because the group has not been vocal in the past, group members said it is not because they don’t have issues in which they believe.

Thomas said that just because Asians are not “in your face” doesn’t mean they don’t have problems and concerns.

“There are very determined, very aggressive Asians on campus who want to be heard,” Thomas said. One outlet for that voice is through the Asian Pacific American Awareness Coalition, a new student organization that was created this year to help Asian-American students feel more at home.

The idea for APAAC began this summer and the organization was official by the fall.

Siao Southammavong, a sophomore in business, said the goal of APAAC is to educate everyone else about Asian issues. “Everyone here assumes we’re Chinese,” he said.

“We also want to increase awareness of Asian-American students. We do have a voice, we’re not passive, and we are here to stay,” he said.

APAAC has 20-25 members. Other goals for the coalition include acting as a vocal outlet for Asian students and as a resource for the students, whether for school or social reasons. “We want APAAC to be a networking system for support information,” Thomas said.

Getting their concerns, needs and wants out into the public are the biggest goals Thomas has for APAAC. “I don’t think this university has heard, much less met, our needs and concerns,” Thomas said.

Kevin Che, a sophomore in graphic design, said it’s not that Asian-American students are not welcome at ISU, instead there is just a lot that needs to be done to make them feel welcome.

To help the Asian students feel more welcome at ISU, Thomas suggests that the university create an Asian Cultural Center and start and Asian studies program.

“When this university talks about diversity, we don’t often talk about Asian Americans,” Thomas said. “There are cultural centers for two other minority groups. Asians don’t have anything.”

The mission statement of the Asian Cultural Center is:

* To promote racial diversity through positive interaction with the administration and other organizations,

* To unify the Asian and Asian-American student voice,

* To act as a support/resource center for different aspects of student life from an academic, social, personal and financial perspective.

The purpose of the cultural center would be, Thomas said, “to promote racial diversity, not to create racial separatism.”

She said the Asian Cultural Center would “not be looked upon as a reactive response to the demands of the minorities, but rather as a proactive response from the administration to diversify the majority.”

Thomas said Asian-American students constitute the second-largest minority population, after African-American students.

“If the university wants to increase diversity, creating a cultural center and an Asian studies program would be a start,” Southammavong said.

“I think the administration should tell people about these organizations and show the U.S. that we are a diverse university and that would increase minority enrollment in the future,” Southammavong said.

“I feel we’re really neglected,” Thomas said. “[President Martin] Jischke said at the forum on Wednesday [Dec. 4] that this was the first time he had heard about [the need for an Asian student cultural center].”

She said if Asian-American students on campus continue to be ignored, that will just give all Asians on campus a very negative view of Iowa State.

“If something is not right, APAAC’s not going to sit quiet. If there is a problem, we’re going to rock the boat,” Thomas said.