UC Berkeley Asian American student leaders said students should take steps to quell negative stereotypes about the South Korean community after Monday’s violence at Virginia Polytechnic Institute but do not fear widespread retaliation against the community.

Students said the campus appreciation for diversity will prevent severe forms of discrimination against Korean Americans after Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was revealed to be of South Korean descent, but said negative stereotypes stemming from the incident could persist against the community.

UC Berkeley’s student population is 4.1 percent Korean American, according to campus statistics.

Christine Minji Chang, co-president of UC Berkeley’s Korean American Student Association, said the association’s presidents sent e-mails to their members to address the issue and warn of possible intolerance. She plans to send a letter to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Minji Chang also wrote a Facebook note to students comparing the

possible intolerance of Korean Americans to some Americans’ negative image of Middle Eastern individuals after the attacks of Sept. 11.

“If we recall back the injustice borne upon Middle Easterners or those who appeared to be so after 9/11, we can all see that damaging stereotypes are easily formed and clung to when intense tragedy occurs and a guilty party is at hand,” Minji Chang wrote.

But some faculty members said they think racial discrimination will not be a problem because of Berkeley’s cultural diversity.

“We certainly have talked among the faculty about how horrible this situation is,” said ethnic studies department chair Beatriz Manz. “I do not expect that here at Cal because we have a very diverse campus. We are proud of the diversity, and we respect the diversity.”

Media coverage of the incident over-emphasizes ethnic background, Minji Chang said.

“It is definitely an issue I thought of as soon as I read the first headline,” Minji Chang said. “Automatically it made me feel pretty crappy because I thought, ‘Why is that the main issue?”

Others said some national media coverage has made Korean Americans feel that they must respond to the incident from an ethnic perspective.

“I feel the media portrayal of this does not help it at all,” said Scott Kim, executive director of the Korean Community Center of the East Bay. “There have been a lot of white mass murders out there. It’s not like we go to white Americans and say, ‘Do you feel bad?’”

In the wake of this tragedy, larger issues like mental health and gun control are more pertinent for college campuses to consider than ethnic backlash, Kim said.

Minji Chang said Korean Americans do not need to apologize for the actions of an individual.

“Apologizing is only going to allow ignorance to continue,” she said. “There’s nothing we have done against the United States. As a community we should show our condolences, but we shouldn’t be sorry.” [Link]