Looking around his classes at Syracuse University, Gautam Jayaprakash doesn’t see much diversity: There are usually only four or five Americans in his 30-person engineering classes.

Jayaprakash, a graduate student in engineering and the president of the Association of International Students at SU, is hoping that International Education Week, held from Monday to Sunday on campus, will intrigue students enough to explore some of the other cultures represented at SU.

‘There’s very little scope for interaction as conditions are right now,’ he said. ‘The key to all events like International Education Week is integration: Helping international students assimilate into society here and making the transition easy. And for American students, to show them how things are abroad: different cultures, different traditions.’

International Education Week, an event sponsored by the Department of State since 1999, was created to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of international students to campus life.

‘We’re always trying to promote diversity, and we look at diversity in many ways, but the inter-ethnicity and global dimensions are often underplayed,’ said Patricia Burak, the director of the Slutzker Center for International Services. ‘We hope that American students, faculty, staff and community members can all come together through some of these events and feel a bond in the breadth of diversity we have on campus.’

The events will focus on showing how international and domestic cultures, traditions and lifestyles have contributed to one another, or even how they have led to conflict.

The week will open with a screening of the film ‘North of 49,’ which documents the destruction of a Sheik temple by 14 teenagers after the Sept. 11 attacks. The filmmakers, who are SU faculty members, will be available afterward to answers questions about the project.

Some other program highlights include Monday night’s ‘Exploring the International Soul of Syracuse,’ from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Schine Student Center, where information will be presented from the Onondaga Historical Association on the roles of different ethnic communities in the last 100 years, and their present-day contributions.

‘Outside the classroom, there aren’t too many events where you see both sets of people,’ Jayaprakash said. ‘If we can just get them to meet once and establish friendships across communities, that’s considered a job well done, really.’

The Indonesian Student Association, which is also sponsoring the week’s events, will put on a ‘Glimpse of Indonesia: Bali and Lombok Traditional Food and Art Display’ Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Slutzker Center, which presents the food, art and culture of Indonesian islands.

‘We’re hoping to let people know more about Indonesia and many of its islands,’ said Hadi Lazuardi, president of the ISA and a graduate student in information technologies. ‘We like to let people know how diverse the culture is in that place.’

Part of the funding for the programs is being provided by a Division of Student Affairs Diversity Programming grant, the International Center of Syracuse and student groups, including ISA and AISSU, as well as the African Student Union, the Russian and Ukrainian student groups, and the Slutzker Center.

This program replaces Syracuse’s Festival of Nations, which was held for 28 years but discontinued in 1997, and One World, which was previously held at SU to foster international relationships.

‘We’re trying to conduct events that would be of interest to both (Americans and international students),’ Jayaprakash said. ‘Hopefully, this will provide a platform for American and international students to interact on a more regular basis.’

Published on November 14, 2004 at 12:00 pm