Taiwanese Conference Attracts 400 Hundred

More than 400 Taiwanese-Americans spent the weekend at Harvard to participate in the fourth annual Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association [ITASA] East Coast Conference.

Organizers called the two day conference "wildly successful," despite the frigid weather.

Officials of Harvard's Taiwanese Cultural society [TCS] billed the conference as a chance for Taiwanese-American students to network and raise cultural awareness.

"We've been preparing for this for a year," said conference co-chair Erica S. Cheng '96. "It's a really good feeling to see it come off so well."

Students from at least 46 colleges attended the weekend conference's workshops, lectures and discussions. "We had people from as far away as Canada and Georgia," said Cheng. "It was the largest conference ever."

The conference's theme, "Here and Now--Taiwanese-Americans in the '90s," was a change from past conferences, which focused more upon the history of Taiwan rather than issues currently facing Taiwanese-Americans in the United States.

"The different focus worked well. We had younger, more dynamic speakers and people were more involved," said Peggy L. Yeh '95, conference co-chair.

The central events of the conference took place on Saturday, with career workshops and concurrent lectures on the cultural history and international status of Taiwan.

"I was really excited about one workshop we had for eclectic careers. It encouraged students to talk about different career choices, not just premed or pre-law," said Yea-Lan Chiang '95.

A panel discussion followed the workshop and featured such pre-eminent speakers as Jeff Yang '89, founder and editor-in-chief of A. Magazine, and Kristie Wang, the Program Director at the Center for Taiwanese International Relations in Washington, D.C. The discussion focused mainly on identity politics facing Taiwanese-Americans.

While most of the conference's educationalactivities were held at the John F. Kennedy Schoolof Government, students tramped through the snowto Lowell House, the Union and Science Center formore festive events including a formal traditionalTaiwanese Banquet, karaoke, anime and a dance.

"The dance was publicized as 'Taboo,' which isa play on words from the Taiwanese word "tiabwu,"which means dance," said Cheng. "It was verypopular. The place was packed and people weredressed to the nines."

Organizers credited much of the conference'ssuccess to the blitz of publicity. "We posteredeverywhere. And the whole thing was on e-mail--thebrochure, the mailing list, everything" saidCheng.

Yea said placing advertisements in nationalTaiwanese newspapers was one of the conference'smost successful publicity approaches.

"Parents saw these advertisements andencouraged their kids to come," said Yea.

One of the conferences biggest problems wasfinding sufficient housing, said ITASA organizers."It's hard finding places for four hundredstudents on campus," Yea said. "All the TCSmembers offered housing, and then we startedcalling AAA[Asian American Association] members tosee if they would volunteer."

But conference organizers said the bad weathercaused the most stress.

"We found out at 4:30 p.m. that our DJ hadcanceled on us and the dance was scheduled for10," said Chiang. "Fortunately most of thespeakers had arrived the night before or earlythat morning, but the snow really slowed downtravel."

Participants were enthusiastic about theconference's events and effects.

"Thought it was primarily billed as a socialevent, participants came away with a lot more,"said Cindy Hwang, a participant from Yale. "Therewas some real consciousness raising.

While most of the conference's educationalactivities were held at the John F. Kennedy Schoolof Government, students tramped through the snowto Lowell House, the Union and Science Center formore festive events including a formal traditionalTaiwanese Banquet, karaoke, anime and a dance.

"The dance was publicized as 'Taboo,' which isa play on words from the Taiwanese word "tiabwu,"which means dance," said Cheng. "It was verypopular. The place was packed and people weredressed to the nines."

Organizers credited much of the conference'ssuccess to the blitz of publicity. "We posteredeverywhere. And the whole thing was on e-mail--thebrochure, the mailing list, everything" saidCheng.

Yea said placing advertisements in nationalTaiwanese newspapers was one of the conference'smost successful publicity approaches.

"Parents saw these advertisements andencouraged their kids to come," said Yea.

One of the conferences biggest problems wasfinding sufficient housing, said ITASA organizers."It's hard finding places for four hundredstudents on campus," Yea said. "All the TCSmembers offered housing, and then we startedcalling AAA[Asian American Association] members tosee if they would volunteer."

But conference organizers said the bad weathercaused the most stress.

"We found out at 4:30 p.m. that our DJ hadcanceled on us and the dance was scheduled for10," said Chiang. "Fortunately most of thespeakers had arrived the night before or earlythat morning, but the snow really slowed downtravel."

Participants were enthusiastic about theconference's events and effects.

"Thought it was primarily billed as a socialevent, participants came away with a lot more,"said Cindy Hwang, a participant from Yale. "Therewas some real consciousness raising.