The Korean Student Association

Could you all introduce yourselves and what you do in KSA?

LM: I'm Lilian Murdie, and I am the Vice President External of the Korean Student Association. I mostly deal with the external part of this organization. I do a lot of networking and talking to other organizations and making sure that our collaborations work out properly.

IP: I'm Ian Pei, KSA’s Vice President Internal. Opposite to Lilian, I've worked with the internal stuff of KSA. Keeping up with the members and the Exec, and planning all the events.

What are some of KSA’s goals as an organization?

IP: Our main goal is spreading and promoting Korean culture on campus to anyone interested. We always say that you don't have to be Korean to join. If you're interested in our culture, then by all means, come and join.

LM: We also try to create a community around us. Not only do we work with the people in KSA, but we also try to do collabs like AASA and other clubs as well. So just creating a sense of community around us because unfortunately, it is not so diverse here Being able to kind of have each other's back, it's a great feeling.

How did KSA help to foster a home for you?

LM: First and foremost, the thing that I love about KSA is that it helped me find my people. I transferred here my sophomore year of college, and I really didn't know anybody. I feel like once you're at that point, it's kind of hard to make friends unless you join an organization I came across KSA on Pepero Day when we were selling Pepero. I got to meet everybody, and they were all so sweet. We’re all super close, and we are even taking a class together this semester. Just being able to have friends that you can hang out with even outside of KSA, that's what I like the most about it

IP: I have a similar story. I came to college, and most of my high school friends were going out of state or to OSU I was the only one here And so, I found a lot of my friends through KSA And through them, I met other people in other clubs, like through AASA.

I bet it's comforting also to see people like you.

IP: Yeah, exactly It's really comforting to see that we have similar cultural backgrounds. Back in my hometown, there weren’t many Koreans in my school, so I didn't have a lot of Korean friends. But coming here, a lot of my Korean friends grew up so similarly, like culturally It’s just really, really cool to see that, and it’s just fun to hang out

LM: It is silly because at my high school as well, there were only two other Korean students But here, now that I'm in KSA, I can talk about the funny things my mom did when I was growing up. And they're like, “Oh, I can relate to that.” But if you're talking to a white student or something like that, they're like, “No, I don't know that ”

What sort of events have you been excited to be able to share?

LM: My favorite event that we've done thus far is Chuseok Night, which is Korean Thanksgiving. It's usually done at the end of August or at the beginning of September, and it signals that it's the end of the season It's a way to bring everybody together. And on Chuseok Night, a lot of our events are based off of food, and we wanted to do something that was more like bringing everybody together through a sense of community. And so for our Chuseok Night this semester, we did a Chuseok candy game night and we did a lot of Korean games that elementary students play in Korea.

IP: Last year, I liked barbecue night because we all just hung out, ate food, and just talked. It’s like a little feast thing was going on. Just hanging out and eating with your friends. So, I thought that was pretty good. We got closer, and I got to meet a lot of new people there too

I know you talked about food being away to create a sense of home for everyone. What sort of dishes remind you of home?

LM: My favorite dish is Sundubu which is a soft tofu soup. It's usually spicy and it has, obviously, tofu. Then it comes with a little egg that is soft-boiled. And usually, there's like onions and zucchini in it. I love soft tofu soup. But ever since I was young, I really liked soft-boiled eggs So, my mom always puts a soft-boiled egg in soups and even in my ramen. Whenever I have soft tofu soup, I think about my mom and just Korea, because my grandma is really good at making soft tofu soup.

IP: There's a dish called Bulgogi It's basically just like Korean marinated beef. I grew up eating that all the time. And so, every time I go to a restaurant that has it, I always order it and it just totally reminds me of home.

KSA underwent a significant period of inactivity, before being revived very recently. What influenced this revival and rapid growth of KSA?

LM: Lily [the current KSA President] and I have had a brief conversation about this But I think it was just not having a sense of community and a sense of home. And they had known the presidents in the past, but Youngjun [a former KSA President] really pushed and was like, “We really should get this back up and going, so that people that are Korean here actually do have a sense of home ” Because we do have a lot of international Korean students that come in as well.

I think it was just really hard for everybody to acclimate properly because a lot of people, when they come to college, look for an organization that they can be a part of and not be a minority in. Not having that was something that bothered both Lily and Youngjun, so they decided to build KSA back up to where it is now

You mentioned international Korean students. What sort of struggles do these students go through in America, in terms of adjusting to this new culture? Of both being in America and not having as big of a Korean community as they might have had before?

LM: The nice thing about international students is that a lot of them come from the same colleges in Korea, so they do have each other. But, they have mentioned that it is a very big struggle to get acclimated once they are in the United States, especially in regard to finding other friends A lot of them stay closed off, which is something that some of them don't want to do. And because of that, being able to provide events that they can be a part of, I think, really does help them. I have received comments from some of the international students about it They appreciate being able to be a part of the community here in the United States, even if it's only for a brief period of time.

For your OU members, how has it helped having international students around?

LM: I think it's a good resource to have. It’s mutually beneficial for both international students and KSA members, because we're able to talk to them about events that can be more tailored toward them. We try to make sure that we're inclusive with everybody. But at the end of the day, it is a Korean Student Association and we do want to tailor mostly towards our Korean students. We ask for their input and how they feel about stuff And they tell us like, “Oh, like there could be improvements on this,” or something like that. It is really helpful, especially for our future events. Sometimes, you receive input from the international students about what they liked and what they didn't like about the event. That helps prep us for the upcoming years when we're not able to help our future Execs.

What are some problems that you'veexperiencedas Korean Americans in Oklahoma, where there are not a lot of Korean communities or resources?

IP: Well, the only Korean communities here in Oklahoma would be church. Koreans are like Christians basically, so there are a lot of churches here in Oklahoma That's the main place where I found Korean communities at home, but other than that, there're not many Korean restaurants or markets or anything [in my hometown].

LM: I agree. It's just, the only [Korean] community that I found outside of OU KSA is through my Catholic Church But it's very small and it is a little cliquey. I do not like being a part of that. And with KSA, it's not as cliquey - it's actually not cliquey at all. We love each other. But yeah, I think that honestly is the only time that I've found community. I'm not going to lie, sometimes people are a little bit racist here

Could you talk more about those specific experiences? Were they with stereotypes or Korean fetishization?

LM: Now, people have been using microaggressions as a form of racism They are a little bit more aggressive towards Asians. Also, a lot of Asians do not get the support that others do, especially in schools. Teachers will be like, “You should be fine doing this because you're Asian,” and that's that. That's the stereotype. And yes, it's positive like, “Oh, you're smart,” but it's not really positive when you need help. I have noticed that a little bit more here, just very subtle racism, but also there have been other situations where people have been just straight-up racist, and they honestly don't even realize what they're doing. Ignorance.

I had an incident where someone was like, “Oh, you're glowing ” I was like, “I'm not glowing I don't get Asian glow ” And they responded, “Oh, you just can't see it. Get it? Because you can't see.” It's just not funny, and that's uncomfortable. I just looked around and thought, “Did you guys just witness what just happened?” And they're like, “It's fine, they’re just joking ” Like it was not a big deal And I feel like people don't take the racism as seriously

Not only that, but in the past, I have tried to talk to guys here, and a lot of them do have Asian fetishes. Like this one guy, the more I got to know him, the weirder it got. But he was like, “Oh, yeah, all of my ex-girlfriends are actually half Korean half white, just like you ” So just a lot of stuff like that

I do think it's out of ignorance. The only thing that I feel like we can do as a community is to inform them that the stuff they do is racist.

How do you hope to see KSA evolve in these next few years?

IP: I just want to KSA gain more traction. Like just more popularity and just being able to spread Korean culture more easily on campus

I feel like our audience is pretty large compared to maybe five years ago when KSA was inactive. We're doing a good job so far Like, we're like slowly growing up there, you know Making a headline But like, yeah, when I'm graduating, I want to see KSA have more members, maybe more events, more funding from SGA and all that stuff

LM: I want more people to be aware of KSA We have been trying to do a lot to make sure that people are more aware of it. Ian recently went down to TALC and boothed there. Whenever we are boothing, a lot of people are like, “Oh, I'm not Korean.” And we tell them, “You don't have to be Korean to join If you just want to know more about Korean culture, you can join ”

Down the line I want to hear more about KSA To have more people in it, especially since there are some Korean people that are not in KSA. It’s hard to please everybody all the time, but in the future, I want to look back and say, “Yes, it was a great time for us ”

I think the most important thing that we've done, that we are both very proud of, is that we have been able to create a sense of community Not only for ourselves but for the people around us.