Asian Groups Hold Elections

The Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association (CSA) and the Harvard Vietnamese Association (HVA) both elected new officers for 1993-94 last night.

In two elections marked by low voter turnout, Cynthia S. Wu '94 and Stephen Chen '95 were elected co-presidents of CSA, while Kim Ngoc Nguyen '94 and Vietnam Dang '95 will serve as co-presidents of HVA.

Running on the same ticket, Wu, a resident of Eliot, and Chen, a Leverett resident, defeated Andrew Chen '95 of Cabot House by emphasizing their experience as CSA officers.

"We were involved in pretty much every CSA event this year," said Wu, who previously served first as publicity chair and then as vice president and treasurer.

Chen, a former first-year representative and secretary of CSA, said that his goals for the organization were to "keep what we did well this year and strengthen and fill up some of our weaknesses."

Both Wu and Channeled a current lack of interest among the groups members as one of CSA 's problems Less than 20 of the more than 200 members attended last night's meeting.

"We'd like to increase the interest in the organization through greater publicity, for example, a month newsletter and a membership card for discounts at restaurants in China town," Wu said.

Another major issue in the election was CSA's future role in the recent political development on campus.

"We want to talk to our membership and find out whether or not they want CSA to have a political voice, Chen said, adding that political questions "cannot be ignored if they come up."

Other new officers of CSA include Vice President and Treasurer Jim W. Cheung '95 and Andrew Chen who was elected secretary after losing bids for the presidency and vice presidency.

Citing her own personal responsibility and the group's new political emphasis HVA 's new President Kim Ngos Nguven proposed the idea of having co president to lead the organization in her campaign speech.

According to outgoing President Dat I Tu '95, recent changes in HVA 's constitution give the president greater responsibility. These changes, Tu said were the reason why the approximately 15 members present elevated two people to till the post this year.

Tu noted that the organization is moving away from its traditional non political stance.

"The change means we can express our interests if we want to," Tu said. "In the past it was different, we had no voice on campus."

The other new officers of HVA are Mar Nguven Hayah '94, vice president, Michael Iran '96, secretary and Chuong Nguven '95, treasurer.