Word: hapas
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...There was certainly a community [of hapa people at Harvard]," Weisinger says. "We felt underrepresented...
President Rebecca M. Weisinger '02 revived the Half-Asian Persons' Association (HAPA) last fall after trying out larger Asian ethnic groups...
Weisinger, now president of the organization, says the group began meeting in October and now has a mailing list of 70 students with about a dozen active members. HAPA meetings are held Wednesday nights at 8 p.m., usually at Herrell's Ice Cream or Loker Commons...
...Biracial students share the experience of growing up mixed, and my hope is that HAPA will pave the way for a more inclusive, multiracial group because, in many ways, I feel that I share more with another biracial student, even if their mix is not the same as mine, than I do with another white or Asian-American student," Weisinger wrote in an e-mail message. "I feel that if you're half-Asian/half-Caucasian, the expectation is that you'll simply join an organization that reflects your Asian half, and if your other half is a different minority...
Emerging organizations such as HAPA are definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully, more student organizations like it will develop sometime in the near future and fill a long-empty void in the College. Permitting applicants to identify with more than one racial group, instead of the "other" category, is perhaps the first step the University can take to create a more welcoming atmosphere for multiracial and biracial students. Students need to be encouraged to embrace all the separate and beautiful components of their heritage, instead of being subtly yet forcibly limited to just...