Encouraging Quality Understanding And Leading Individuals To Unity (E.Q.U.A.L.I.T.Y.) and Students for Asian Indian Cultural Awareness (SAICA) hosted a night of games, music and food last week

E.Q.U.A.L.I.T.Y. Co-President Bianca Jordan said the event was held to provide a cultural learning experience for students.

“We wanted to reach out to more groups on campus and to introduce people to different cultures,” she said.

With roughly 14 students in attendance, Jordan expressed frustration towards the lack of participation from White students, but said her organization is working towards bringing in more diverse crowds.

“The fact that we can’t get everybody in the TCU community to come out is frustrating. We always get the minority side of TCU at our events,” she said. “We have an idea we want to implement where everyone brings friends of different ethnic groups or races to the events to increase the diversity in attendance.”

Halfway through the event, students were taught how to play Kabaddi.

Kabaddi is a traditional south Asian game that involves students working together to get past imaginary checkpoints.

In addition to playing Kabaddi, students were served Indian style dishes.

First year Pre-Business major Morgan Gunn said she wasn’t aware of TCU’s South Asian population and appreciated the opportunity to try food from a different culture.

“I thought it was interesting. I didn’t even know we had South Asian students on campus,” she said. “I never try new food so it was really cool. I probably wouldn’t usually do something like that.”

Stereotypes were the biggest issues SAICA President Akash Tyagi said his organization faces.

“The biggest challenge we face in SAICA is breaking the stereotypes that people have about different cultures,” he said. “My role is to have events that can provide first hand knowledge to people who seek to be open minded.”

With these types of events, Tyagi said he hopes to open student eyes to new things and connect them with others outside of their immediate circle.

“I think the bigger reason why we have these types of events is to bring students closer to other kinds of people that they may or may not know,” he said. “These kinds of events bring different cultures closer together.”

Jordan spoke on the importance of being committed when having student led events that focus on culture, race, and social issues.

“We’re committed to communicating with each other, committed to making a difference, and committed to putting out quality events.”