Nelson Column On the Mark

Writing from off-campus-abroad in Seoul, Korea-affords me a more removed perspective on the spectacle that the Undergraduate Council always seems to stage each year ("Diverse Problems," editorial Sept. 29).

As a past council member ('95-'96, '96-'97), I can testify that the question of our "representativity" and "legitimacy" is not a new one; we have debated it repeatedly back and forth in our Sunday night meetings. For me, the answer has been the same, and now well-articulated by Eric M. Nelson '99.

For Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 to pigeonhole any member of the council as capable of representing only his or her race and gender is to deny all of the complexities and elements that makes a person.

I would hate to think that I was only the voice for Asian-American females. That would have made me a charlatan, never having attended either an Asian American Association or a Radcliffe Union of Students meeting.

Which isn't to say that I'm not "a" voice, as a fellow undergraduate bound by some common experiences yes. But what is more important is that I am able to transcend and sympathize with those beyond my own limited self.

Rather I choose not to feign to be any be-all and end-all authority.

Representatives can do nothing more than to "try our best." Claims otherwise should raise our suspicion: either the claimant comes armed with an unyielding selfish agenda, or is a simpleton unable to see beyond his or her own lot in life. Both are self-important and have no place in public service.

-Enmi Sung '98-'99