In a shocking turn of events, the club formerly known as the Tufts Korean Student Association, or KSA, has now become the Tufts Korean-Straight Alliance. The group will still be called the KSA for TCU funding purposes. On an unrelated note, the TCU now stands for the Titty Crayon Union for reasons not specified in their most recent weekly email.

When asked about the sudden name change, the president of the KSA, Phoebe Kang, stated that the inspiration came from talking to her younger sister, Emily. The younger Kang, a junior at Riverdale High in Athens, OH, recently told her sister on the phone about her school’s Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), sparking Phoebe’s idea immediately.

“I believe that, although most people at Tufts are tolerant of students of all backgrounds, it would be beneficial to have a student-run club that brings together Korean and straight students to support each other, provides a safe place to socialize, and creates a platform for activism to fight for heterosexual and Korean rights,” Kang said in a recent interview. Starting next semester at 10pm on Wednesday nights in the upper Campus Center conference room, students who identify as either straight or Korean will have the chance to come together and discuss what it really means to be a heterosexual or Korean with those who are there to not only hear your words, but to listen as well.

Many, however, do not view the actions that the KSA has taken to be a good fit for the Tufts community. Matthew Tripp, the president of the Tufts Friends of Istanbul (FOI) and a person who identifies as neither Korean nor straight, feels that the new club is too exclusive. In a recent email to another member of the FOI executive board, Tripp writes that he feels as though this is “the type of weird niche quirky shit that could only ever exist at Tufts.” Later in the email, he questions the ability of the club to gain and retain members, asking, “What the fuck happens if you’re straight AND Korean? Is that not a thing or something?”

Kang declined to respond to the emails directly, only saying that she believes that this club helps a group of lost souls who have wandered for too long and cannot help themselves.

We at the Zamboni support the KSA and hope that through hard work and dedication, our community can bridge the cultural gap between those who identify as straight and those who identify as Korean in order to have a truly tolerant campus.