This week, as part of our “On The Margins at DU” column that investigates the successes and failures of inclusive excellence at DU, The Clarion spoke with second-year Hridith Sudev. Sudev serves as the president of the South Asian Student Association (SASA), as well as the Executive Director for the Multicultural Alliance for Representation and Education (MCARE). SASA is an affinity organization that seeks to “create a space for people to learn about and celebrate South Asian culture, regardless of where they are from, and to share that culture with the University of Denver and its students.”
To get involved with SASA, email them at sasa.denver14@gmail.com or follow them on Instagram @sasauofdenver and Facebook @southasianstudentassociationDU. Their weekly meetings are 7:00 p.m. on Thursdays in Sturm 234.
K: In general, do you feel like DU is inclusive of the South Asian community? What has been your personal experience?
S: I think DU is trying to be inclusive, but we have a long way to go. There’s a lack of awareness on campus about marginalized communities. We tend to put all people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people from diverse backgrounds under one big umbrella. But that’s not how it really is. Everyone is different, yet the culture on campus is very assimilated.
K: In what ways has DU succeeded in taking the community into consideration in the past?
S: We have the Diversity Committee, the Diversity & Inclusive Excellence Senator in USG and [former Vice Chancellor for Campus Life & Inclusive Excellence] Lili Rodríguez. We have systems in place that have a lot of potential, but we need more student-led activism. Young people are the citizens that matter the most to any social structure. But we have apathy on campus among students, and we need to change their attitude from tolerance of cultures to celebration of cultures. I shouldn’t be celebrated despite my identities. I should be celebrated because of them.
K: In what ways has DU failed and/or continue to fail to take the community into consideration?
S: Our ‘Pioneer’ name needs to get changed. Native American students at DU should not have to hear the names of their oppressors being chanted at a hockey game. If I heard a name for British colonizers chanted at a hockey game, as an Indian whose ancestors were enslaved and murdered by them, I would be appalled and distraught and I would have my trauma triggered. Native American students shouldn’t have to go through that at every single game. Because when I go to a hockey game, I’m just there to enjoy it. I already spend so much of my time trying to correct microaggressions and educate people around me. When I go to a hockey game, I’m exhausted. I don’t have the time or the energy. But it’s troubling to hear these chants, and it’s problematic.
From a SASA perspective, it’s troubling when people appropriate South Asian culture. I see people with the word ‘namaste’ and its corruptions written on their bags and I see people walking around with yin and yang tattoos or Om signs on their feet—but when I ask them what it means to them, they don’t have an answer. They don’t know the cultural significance or meaning to it or if you’re even allowed to tattoo this symbol on your body. There are some symbols that go beyond culture and religion and are not tattoo-able, and people don’t understand this.
We used to have an Om sign carved on the ground next to the SIE complex. For years, SASA tried to get it out of the ground because in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions, Om is important. It is not okay to step on those things—it’s impure and troubling for South Asian communities. But it wasn’t until last year that we were able to do it and have the block of tile taken out. It was a cathartic experience.
K: Why is it important to have organizations like SASA present on campus?
S: When I came to DU last year, I was honestly lost. I grew up in a community that had a lot of South Asians, so I never had to think about my culture because it just came to me and I lived within it. But coming here to a predominantly white institution, there were far fewer South Asians than I was accustomed to. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do—if I was to lose my South Asian identity or try to celebrate it without knowing how to.
My RA last year was in SASA, and she took me to a meeting. When I went, it was like finding a family. You see your identities represented, and it’s empowering. You say, ‘They can make it, and they look like me and were raised like me. That means I can do this, too. I have a place, too.’ Because I came here, and I felt like I was doing something wrong just by being in this space. We have to deconstruct that narrative, so it’s essential that students see people in power who look like them and have the communities that matter to them be accessible.
With SASA, we have been able to create a space where people from South Asian countries can express their ideas and have a liaison between them and the larger DU community. Every person deserves a voice, so having that representation and space can not only impact people in a social or educational aspect but also physically and mentally.
K: How can people get involved with SASA and help support the Southeast Asian community?
S: We meet every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Sturm. Spring quarter, we’d love if people could come out and celebrate Holi. Follow us on social media to find details about our meetings and reach out to us.
Through this column, we hope to shed light on the range of identities and experiences that exist on campus, create a space where their voices can be heard and highlight their contentious relationship with DU. We hope to represent them with as much journalistic integrity as possible, but we are aware that there are stories we will fail to communicate with the same voice. We aspire to do better than student organizations and institutions, including The Clarion, have done in the past at treating these topics with the thought and consideration they deserve.
If there is feedback you would like to give or issues you would like to see covered in this column, please reach out to duclarioneditorialteam@gmail.com.
