Celebrating Diversity

International Culture Night to showcase ethnicity on campus

University+students+representing+a+number+of+cultures+on+campus+come+together+to+celebrate+and+educate+fellow+students+at+the+ICN.

University students representing a number of cultures on campus come together to celebrate and educate fellow students at the ICN.

Story by Emily Albrent, News Editor

International Culture night, representing many of the different cultures on campus, will present a fashion show, dancing and everything in between at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night in Schofield Auditorium.

International Culture Night Committee publicity manager So Young Lim, sophomore from South Korea and student at Eau Claire, said they wanted to perform to build a better environment to live together.

“Since we are international students and even though this university has more than 100 international students, I don’t think we have enough connection with American students or with the community, so we want to share our cultures with them so we can learn from each other and understand each other better,” Lim said.

Lim said she does not believe the university celebrates diversity enough.

“It’s hard for me to find events that include a lot of international students,” she said. “I don’t think promotion is good enough, it’s really hard for me to gather a lot of international students to events. I don’t think many feel welcome, it’s hard for us to find a great friend who understands us better.”

Junior Katherine Moua, Head of the event, said this is an important event for the university to put on.

“We are going to have some cultures from India, Irish dancing, Chinese cultural dance, Italian music being played and we are going to have a skit by some Malaysian students on campus,” Moua said.

She said Eau Claire has a big international student population that many people on campus might not know about.

“So I think it’s really respectful for us to represent these cultures throughout campus in this one night,” Moua said.

Moua said Eau Claire might recognize diversity, but doesn’t show it enough.

“I think this is one event that motivates the university to do more with it,” Moua said. “The overall goal is to basically open the eyes of the community on the college diversity we have on campus, it’s not just ethically or racially or culturally, it’s all types of cultures whether it’s American or not, we find people to find acceptance.”

Junior Anne Wickland is part of the outreach group for the event and also in the fashion show representing Norway.

“We just think it is really important to show Eau Claire is not a super white campus, there is diversity,” Wickland said.

She said the hardest part about this event is getting people to know about it, and to recruit people who are interested in being involved.

“I have been the one contacting students, so I think that’s been really difficult, just because not everyone responds to emails, or there are people who are interested and who back out,” Wickland said.

The doors open at 7 p.m. and Wickland said she encourages all students and the community to purchase tickets.