I’m a little bitter, to say the least. Only now, after desperate attempts to attract writers for Diaspora, do I realize the extent to which students only engage in those courses and activities that will increase their GPA or build their resume. (This is not to say that I haven’t been guilty of having the aforementioned attitude in the past.)

When we pitched our goals for this newsletter, Anshu and I received responses ranging from, “I don’t need to write, I am a science major,” to sheer laughter. We thought approaching this matter with a lighthearted attitude to emphasize Diaspora’s flexibility and low-time commitment would be the best bet. Considering our zero person turn-out for the first meeting, I guess we were mistaken. Well, for all of you skeptics who did not take us seriously to begin with, who think that sharpening writing skills is not important, and any others who had negative reactions to our awesome speeches, I advise you to think again. As editors, we are serious. Writing is critical to all careers. And Diaspora is going to be great this year.

A few more things should probably be addressed. Including articles that unveil the breadth of issues relating to South Asia today, and UNC’s campus as well, would be ideal. Sangam, our sponsor, is supposedly an organization covering eight countries, which is sometimes masked by the prominent number of Indian members. One of my biggest aims for this publication is to provide a diverse array of articles from an eclectic group of individuals, and by that I mean not only including articles on India by Indian students. With this being the first issue, my apologies extend for certainly not meeting this goal. We’re also keeping the idea of one step at a time in mind, so when the next Diaspora issue rolls around, we expect this problem to diminish.

Bitterness aside, I extend a sincere invitation to all of you, no matter what your ethnic origin, to help bring Diaspora back to the level of hype and renown that it was founded upon several years ago. For those who contributed to this issue, thank you. For everyone else, we would really love to have you.

Bienvenue. Swagat. The amount of languages I can say welcome in is pretty limited. I suppose I could peruse Dey Hall and find some abandoned 101 textbooks in search for more greetings but luckily for me, and definitely lucky for you, I am not the only contributor to this publication.

If you know any more languages, or really if you are interested in anything– you are an ideal candidate to write, draw, photograph, or edit for Diaspora. If you are curious please email me at anshu@unc.edu or the Assistant Editor, Dharmi Tailor at dharmi@email.unc.edu. We would be thrilled to have you be a part of our team. Granted it’s not as cool as say, the Men’s varsity basketball team, but in time we could reach celebrity status, at least of the journalistic world.

That was my mandatory call to arms, my latest, but definitely not my final plea to all of you potential contributors out there. For those of you wondering what it is that you are actually reading, you are reading Diaspora: UNC-Chapel Hill’s first and only South Asian publication. The term Diaspora refers to any population sharing common ethnic identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their settled territory, and became residents in areas often far removed from the former. So to sum it up, it defines us. Diaspora is sponsored by Sangam to promote South Asian awareness, but also acts as another media outlet for students to express themselves.

This is our inaugural issue, so I would like you to feel free to please let us know what you like and don’t like because after all this is your publication, and we want you to enjoy it.

As the South Asian community grows larger every year, I feel that it is increasingly important for not only South Asians but also those interested in South Asian issues to have a voice on campus and a publication that they can relate to.

Finally, I would like to thank you for reading the issue, and we hope to get it to you on a continual basis. Thank you.

The spring Sangam elections of 2007 were distinct from past elections because Nitin Sekar and Jaymin Patel, both biology and environmental science majors, ran last minute against current president Prashant Katwa in order to make a statement. Sekar and Patel said they wanted to voice their concern with Sangam: there is a very clear difference between Sangam’s stated goals and its actual actions. In his election speech, Sekar laid out everything he thought was wrong with Sangam. Many felt attacked by the display, but others supported it.

At an interview this semester, Sekar said he feels that Sangam spends too much time on social activities and not enough time raising awareness about South Asian culture to the rest of the UNC campus. He said Sangam caters more to the Indian American population at UNC, and therefore does not accurately represent South Asia. Sekar and Patel chose to relay their opinions at the elections because so many Sangam members attend this event. However, at the end of his speech, Sekar withdrew his presidential bid. He said he was too busy to make the necessary changes himself, but he hoped the newly elected board would take heed of his message.

As the first few months of the semester have gone by, however, Sekar said he is skeptical about whether his thoughts were heard. “It seems that this year’s executive board has no intention of leaving any of the traditions Sangam has had for itself,” he said, advocating events such as inviting Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson to speak or holding a Bhutanese archery workshop as opposed to holding various social events.

This year, Sangam has put on events such as a Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship Dinner, two Meet and Greets, “Be the Change” Service Week, and Culture on the Lawn. Planning for Aaj Ka Dhamaka, Sangam’s annual dance competition to raise money for the Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship, is in the works.

Neil Patel, Vice-President of Sangam, said that Sangam is improving its ways. According to him, the new executive board is trying to reach out to other organizations on campus to help bring awareness to UNC about Sangam. In the past few months, Sangam has partnered with the Women’s Studies Program to fight domestic violence. They have also partnered with GLBTSA in the screening of Deepa Mehta’s Fire, a film about two Indian lesbian women. The board has created two new cabinet positions: an internal relations chair and an external relations chair. Both positions aim to help create an interaction between Sangam and the community. In “Be the Change” Service Week, which took place from October 1-6, Sangam raised $1,000 for the Mahatma Gandhi Fellowship.

Most important, said Patel, is the executive board’s dedication to educating themselves more about the political occurrences in South Asia. To make UNC more aware about South Asia, the board must also be aware, he said.

So is Sangam in fact improving? I guess we’ll leave it up to you to decide.

–Tanisha Palvia

MGF is the only university recognized student run scholarship at UNC-Chapel Hill. Each year MGF raises $6,000 to send two students abroad to work on projects that benefit South Asia. MGF scholars in the past have worked to eliminate illiteracy, have fought for women’s rights and have conducted HIV/AIDS education programs. Be the Change week was a complete success. A large sum of money was raised for the MGF scholarship. Thank you to all of those that donated money and helped us in anyway. Please continue to support the MGF scholarship so that we can make a “change” in South Asia.