Meet David Lam. He’s a senior from Overland Park majoring in Information Systems, and he hopes to be the CIO of a company one day. However, what he is known most for is his advocacy and involvement with multicultural groups on campus. He has put in a lot of work over his four years here at KU towards trying to foster diversity on campus, and it hasn’t gone without recognition. I mean, he got chosen to sit behind Obama onstage when he came to KU, after all.
What makes David a Campus Celeb is his love for diversity and passion towards social issues. He is a very active member of AASU (Asian American Student Union) and talks about issues that impact the Asian American community, from racism and stereotypes to lack of representation in media. Also, he is the vice chairman of the Multicultural Affairs Committee in Student Senate. As vice chairman, he’s in charge of the Multicultural Education Fund and definitely has a role in fostering diversity on campus. On top of all that, he has plans to start a new student organization dedicated to raising awareness of social issues and working to promote cultural diversity on campus.
When I asked David which student organization he is most involved with or passionate about, he said: “AASU. It’s because I can see myself creating the most change with this group. Also, I wasn’t as involved as I am now before AASU, but after being in it for four years now, I’ve grown to love being involved and doing things on campus.” However, in addition to AASU, David is really invested in getting his new student organization going. “I’m planning on meeting a few other people interested in this idea so we can get it going.”
I then asked David what motivates to be involved on campus. In addition to his passion towards social issues and diversity, he said, “Over the years, I’ve developed the idea that I should seize any and all opportunities that come my way, so I guess that’s why I’m involved on campus. Also, being involved on campus gives me the opportunity to meet and talk with all different kinds of people from various backgrounds. Finally, I just like to see when all the work I’ve put into something becomes a success.”
Finally, I asked David what would be the number one thing at KU that he would like to see change, and he said that he would like to see the exclusivity between multicultural groups end. “Asians on campus tend to stick with Asians, blacks with blacks, and so on. I would really like to see that kind of exclusivity between groups end. I hope that these different racial and ethnic groups can interact more and create some sort of intersectionality.”
David said that he doesn’t have any immediate plans regarding social advocacy in the future, as he is more focused on his career. However, he has already done a great deal here at KU when it comes to promoting diversity and being involved with the multicultural community.