The Indian and Chinese student organizations, the two largest international student communities on campus, prove the old adage true: there is strength in numbers.
International students only comprise about 6 percent of the total student population, according to statistics available on the Office of Budget and Planning Web site.
Indian and Chinese students make up nearly 41 percent of the international student total.
Suren Chen, civil engineering doctoral student and Chinese Students and Scholars Association president, said if not for the unity of the Chinese student community, the nearly 400 Chinese students on campus would have a hard time getting settled in this country.
“In this community we have the power to help one another,” Chen said. “We are very efficient.”
Chinese students volunteer to pick up new students from the airport when they arrive in the country. They even take new students into their homes until they can find a permanent residence.
The Indian Student Association aids incoming Indian students in much the same way. It also coordinates permanent living arrangements.
Indian students who are accepted to the University can go to the ISA Web site and complete a form that indicates their living preferences. ISA then pairs compatible Indian students together in off-campus apartments.
“We’ve always tried to make it easier on incoming students,” said Anirban Murherjbe, a biochemistry doctoral student and ISA president.
Murherjbe said more than 250 Indian students live in Northgate Apartments.
“When students come here they don’t feel that much alone,” he said.
While students from other countries depend on the University’s International Cultural Center for similar needs, the size and organization of ISA and CSSA allow them to operate independently.
Both presidents said there is no truth to rumors CSSA and ISA charge members for their services.
“We depend a lot on our volunteers,” Chen said. “They don’t get paid. They just have the attitude, ‘I want to do.'”
Chen said he does not want to put a burden on the Chinese students with a fee.
ISA does have a $20 membership fee, but it is optional, said Nial Patel, a computer science and economics junior and ISA vice president.
Indian students do not have to pay it in order to take advantage of ISA’s resources.
However, all international students do have to pay a $10 fee, which finances the ICC.
This has become a source of contention to Chinese students who have not used the center’s resources since it hung a Taiwanese flag in its Hall of Cultures.
Taiwan, a part of mainland China, has sought to separate itself from China and act as its own country in recent years.
Chinese students wanted the ICC to remove the Taiwanese flag. The ICC refused, insisting the flags represent the international cultures on campus, not the political views.
“It hurt the feelings of a lot of people in the [Chinese] community,” Chen said.
He said he and ICC director Harald Leder are working to resolve the issue.
“We think the ICC is a great place and does a great job,” Chen said. “We don’t want to get away from the ICC.”
Both ISA and CSSA presidents said the unity of their student communities have motivated them to service.
Murherjbe said when he came to the country for the first time after traveling for 22 hours, he was relieved to see ISA members at the airport waiting for him.
“It’s out of gratitude for ISA,” he said. “It’s a ‘pay it forward’ kind of thing.”