Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 20, 1990 TAG: 9004190490
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SCOT HOFFMAN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"It came off very smoothly this year," said Darlene Grega, a lecturer in the graduate school who just finished her fourth year as adviser to the International Week Committee.
"I felt it all went quite well," said Ian Hartley, a graduate student from Canada and chairman of the committee for this year's celebration, which ended this past week. "The turnout to all the events was great."
For instance, the annual street fair.
"It was big," Hartley said. "It was really big."
He estimated that 2,000 people walked by the exhibits, crafts tables and talent shows, this year located on College Avenue and Draper Road downtown instead of on the plaza in front of Squires Student Center on campus, where it's been held in the past.
"The street fair's always been the main attraction," he said. "But we've never had it downtown before. I think that helped a lot."
"We were able to be more involved in the community instead of just the campus," Grega said.
She added that the committee may seek to have the fair downtown for future International Weeks, but "we'll see what happens once Squires opens."
The student center has been closed for renovations for almost two years and is set to reopen in fall of 1991.
Another factor that bolstered attendance to the fair as well as other weekend events was the deliberate scheduling of the International Week to coincide with Tech's parents weekend, Grega said.
"A lot of parents were very impressed," she said. "We definitely want to continue to have it in conjunction with parents weekend."
Hartley said he felt the extremely high profile of the events in Eastern Europe and China helped.
People are getting "more global" he said, mentioning the large turnout for a talk by Nien Cheng, who survived six years in a Red Guard detention cell during China's bloody cultural revolution and authored the best seller, "Life and Death in Shanghai."
"More than 250 people went to that," Grega said.
Beyond the street fair, the most popular event by far was the daily luncheons hosted by a different international group each afternoon. Grega said attendance was around 200 for each luncheon.
In all, the committee brought to the campus 19 events, ranging from a steel drum band to a round-table discussion on nonviolence to the showing of the recently released African movie "Yaaba."
And, not surprisingly, booking speakers and renting tents, tables, chairs and space every day for a week costs a pretty penny.
"Every year we have to send out a donation request to everyone," Hartley said. "It's really a gamble as to whether we get any money or not."
The pamphlet for this year's celebration lists nearly 50 contributors of either time or money, including nearly all the colleges and departments on campus.
Almost half of the budget for the celebration came from Tech's Student Budget Board, said Grega, adding that large contributions were also made by the university president's office and the department of research and graduate studies.
Both Hartley and Grega declined to specify the size of the committee's budget. Both did say the time, effort and money were all well spent.
"The goal is to just sort of let the Virginia Tech community and Blacksburg know of the international community here" on campus, Hartley said.
"It is a celebration," states the pamphlet, "of the wonderful resource present in the community for the building of harmony and understanding among ourselves."
by CNB