Fil-Am students decry discrimination in Michigan bar

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino American students together with other Asian students of the University of Michigan gathered on Thursday to denounce allege racial bias in a local bar, an online report said. The Michigan Daily reported that leaders of the Filipino American Student Association (FASA) and Chinese Student Association (CSA) said the staff of local bar Studio 4 treated them poorly based on their racial descent. According to the report, FASA and CSA held a fundraising event at Studio 4 on November 8, of which half of the proceeds would be given to the club while the two groups would split the other half. CSA president Steve Lai said he approached Studio 4 manager Jeff Mangray after the bar closed to collect his cut of the revenue but that Mangray would only pay Lai for 50 customers. “He said, ‘You guys only brought in 50 Asians,’ and he showed me his clipboard with tallies," he said in the report. The student leader said Studio 4 staff had only been keeping tally of the number of those people who entered the bar and appeared to be of Asian descent. However, the nightclub’s manager said he neither kept a tally nor tried to change the terms of the contract. Mangray said he had always intended to pay the group $361 for the 111 paying customers recorded on the counter that night. He also said that when he said there were only 50 Asian customers, he was just approximating that figure from the number he had seen. “I think they misunderstood my question. Since it was two Asian (groups) that sponsored the event, I asked them, ‘Where was the Asian turnout tonight?’" he said. Lai and FASA President Ashley Manzano said in the report that their groups brought many people who weren’t of Asian descent to the club. They said it was Mangray’s prejudice that only Asian students would attend their party, going as far as identifying people to be Asian as they came in the door. Manzano said in the report that Mangray did not disclose the true number of customers who paid the cover charge, which she believes to have been between 150 and 200, so as not to share the gained profit. The two student leaders said they went outside Studio 4 to negotiate with Mangray’s son, Reese, with whom Lai had originally arranged the deal with. Reese reportedly argued that a promotional group had attracted more customers than the two student organizations. In the heat of the argument, they said Reese spit on Manzano and insulted the female board members of FASA. According to the report, Lai said Mangray in the end agreed to split the profit for the worth of 111 people on that particular night. However, Mangray denied that he spoke with the CSA president regarding settling the deal. He also said that he always gets positive feedback from student groups he works with. “We have a reputation of being very fair in our business dealings with everybody. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened," he said. Meanwhile, other student organizations expressed support for the FASA and CSA. “On behalf of MSA, if there’s anything we can do, we want to help. I think this is the first time in history that we’ve had a South Asian president and vice president, so we’re part of this community, but this is an affront to the student body," said Michigan Student Assembly Vice President Arvind Sohoni. Even university officials said that they would support the plight of their students. Linh Nguyen of the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs reportedly told the students that the administration had already discussed the incident and said that they want to support the student groups with whatever action they might take. “We want to dialogue and partner with them to figure out a solution to this. To raise the issues that they choose to raise, however they want to bring this issue to light," she said in interview with the Michigan Daily. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV