This editorial reflects the sole opinion of the authors, and does not purport to represent the opinions of APALSA (Asian Pacific American Law Students Association) members and/or its executive board.
Cardozo community, ready or not: There’s a new club on the block, and it’s called KALSA. The students initiating the Korean American Law Students Association have spoken, and they feel the needs of Cardozo’s Korean community are not quite met.
Through a new SBA club, KALSA has announced that it seeks to reach out to Koreans at our school, develop a community through common ethnic interest, expound dialogue about the Korean legal system, and generate more presence in the larger Asian community through targeted programming and outreach. KALSAs exist at several other law schools. Is it Cardozo’s turn? Will KALSA meet the needs of Cardozo’s student body?
We support the goals of KALSA; any student initiative that aims to educate students on any issue is laudable. We express our concerns, however, about the ramifications of a separately funded and independent organization, in a practical sense (budget allocation questions, increased administrative red tape, bureaucratic confusion, and coordination issues) and in a theoretical sense (explaining and reconciling how this new, specific ethnic interest group fits into the greater community here).
APALSA’s mission is to be a student group serving as an academic, professional, social, and political resource for Asian Americans and the entire Cardozo student body as our school strives to develop and promote a greater awareness of Asian American issues in the legal arena and community.
As current APALSA board members, we’ve sought to reach those goals through organizing and co-sponsoring professional development panels, a mentor-mentee system, class outline bank, social events, cultural events (e.g., Lunar New Year festival), and generating political discussion (e.g., we co-sponsored the General Election Foreign Policy Forum, a forum featuring representatives from the Obama and McCain campaigns discussing the candidates’ foreign policy involving Korea).
If the greater purpose of minority organizations is to address the needs of that particular group within the at-large legal community, then what is the best way to target the Korean experience here? Similarly, shall we divide or redistribute resources for the same type of diversity among the Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Filipino, and Malaysian communities? It is possible that a Chinese 1L will wonder where her “Chinese interest” table at the club fair is, and upon realizing it doesn’t yet exist, will get her friends to write to SBA requesting a constitution, budget, and new board. We could have the type of structure that encompasses multiple ethnic groups at varying levels of specificity, like some other law schools.
Vital to the success of a co-existing APALSA and KALSA is collaboration and coordination. APALSA and KALSA should partner to co-sponsor events. For example, when conference invitations from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association are delivered, APALSA and KALSA should agree on how to seek aid from the administration to get Cardozo students involved in the national organization.
Furthermore, we encourage all members of KALSA to become active members of APALSA. A prospective Korean student may be happy to see that the interests of promoting diversity in the legal world are being addressed at Cardozo through APALSA, and perhaps even more pleased that her particular ethnic group is represented through KALSA.
The creation of KALSA is symbolic of Cardozo’s growing pains as its student body becomes more diverse. As the populations of the minority organizations grow, the needs will continue to evolve, and we will have to be continually addressing them. We must ask ourselves: What is the purpose and role of minority groups and what is the most effective form in which these groups best serve the needs of our community?
Grace D. Kim, 2L
Esther A. Nguonly, 2L