Greetings

 

Parmatma Saran:

 

I am Parmatma Saran. I am a professor in Baruch College and Vice-Chair of this institute. I am also chair of this conference but I would like to acknowledge others who have worked very hard on this event, my good friend Dr. Tom Tam, who is the Executive Director and his dedicated staff; Shashi, Maggie, Luisa, Phillip, Lawrence, and Antony.

 

Before I proceed any further, I would like to invite Dr. Tam to introduce our chief guest.

 

Thomas Tam:

 

Among other things, the Asian American / Asian Research Institute plays host to forums on issues and topics of concern to Asians and Asian Americans. Today’s event is one such program and one that we like to do each year.. The reason that we are able to do this is because we have wonderful support from the president of Queens College. Now, you may wonder why a president from Queens College is involved in an organization physically based in Manhattan. This is due to a space related arrangement with the University so even though we are located in Manhattan, we are from Queens College. We are very grateful to President James Muyskens who has been so supportive of the Asian American community and without his help, we would not be able to do many things that we do. Please help me welcome President James Muyskens.

 

James Muyskens:

 

Thank you very much Dr. Tam. It is certainly a pleasure to be here today for the conference: South Asians and the Diaspora. You know it is unfortunate so often that we do not see the humanity of people far away from us until there is a disaster. People of South Asia have more than their share of disaster as you all well know in recent years; wars, earthquakes, and the unforgettable tsunami. So I am proud to say, that Queens College and our faculty, family, staff, and students, responded swiftly and generously to that disaster. More than that, we are now more than just curious, we want to know more about the lives of the people who gained our sympathy for their trials and we have admiration for their courage. So today again, this is what is remarkable about the Asian American / Asian Research Institute. Their timing is always impeccable. This is the perfect moment for us to talk about filling in those gaps and knowledge about South Asians, both where they live initially and around the world as they move around in the Diaspora and have come to settle with us in New York City. So it is no surprise to me that the Institute has found the right topic for the right time. If you recall in 2002, it examined Chinatown in the aftermath of 9/11. The timing in this is absolutely crucial and makes a difference. So this institute, although small, and Dr. Tam and I talked about getting more space and getting established in area and identity, and we will get there soon, despite these challenges, it has done remarkable work and it is truly making an impact on the thinking in this city and indeed across the world about the issues it addresses.

 

Now you know, Queens College is located in Flushing, New York. And these days when you say Flushing, New York, Flushing happens to be “Flushing the Dutch,” I am Dutch, but if you think about Flushing today, what you will recognize that it is the most vibrant Asian American community in the United States. And so we are proud to be affiliated with the Institute, we are proud to be in Flushing, and to be taking advantage of the incredible cultural treasures, incredible vibrancy of the community because of the influx of all these people from all over the world. In fact 23 percent of our students at Queens College currently are Asian, if you look at the broad expanse of what that means. And on our faculty, we have some notable scholars who are working in this area; I’ll just mention some names: Madhulika Khandelwal, as well as, Morris Wasabi, and I am really proud to say, just this month at the Board of Trustees meeting, the City University of New York, one of our own, Kimiko Hahn was named distinguished professor for the University. So, we are very proud of what Queens can do for the community that surrounds us. We are especially excited of what the community around us has been doing for Queens.

 

So, I want to congratulate you Dr. Tam, again, for hitting the right topic, the right note for this time. Your achievements are certainly vital for us and for Asians all over and we recognize, every time I come to a conference like this, that if we ignore the issues you are talking about, we would impoverish ourselves. So welcome to this conference, it is going to be a great day. A lot of things to be discussed and learned, and thanks for coming!