More diverse films to hit HUB

When Larry Paseornek looked at the on-campus movies offered at no cost by the Association of Residence Hall Students and the Graduate Student Association, he noticed something was missing.

Although the movies were mostly popular recent releases, very few of them starred or were directed by minorities. For the most part, the films also did not address minorities or minority issues.

So Paseornek, administrative vice president of ARHS, began a one-man crusade to bring multicultural movies to the University.

His crusade soon doubled when Kevin Bittle, merchandise chairperson of the University Concert Committee, heard about the effort and joined forces with Paseornek.

"There are not enough (multicultural) films being showcased," Bittle said. "We're trying to represent an audience that has been underrepresented before."

Their goal is to show eight movies, throughout the semester made by and depicting minorities. The movies may be shown in the HUB Assembly Room on Wednesday nights and would be followed by a discussion by theatre professors.

"It's just a way for people to get together and understand," Bittle said. "It gives them a way to come and see and understand how things are."

However, Pasoernek and Bittle are still working on getting the funding for the project from the Student Organization Budget Committee.

ARHS and UCC are not sponsoring the program directly, although the project will use ARHS' resources, Paseornek said. Aside from verbal support, the project has received little organizational or financial help from many minority organizations at the University, excluding Womyn's Concerns and the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance.

Bittle said without the support of the other groups, it would be difficult to ensure the movies they select provide a good representation of the different minorities.

"If anyone is not happy, then it's their fault. Hopefully we're not going to anger anyone," he said. "We're happy with the way it turned out."