Reconnection and Revival: Founding of the Vietnamese Student Association

The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) was established in 1988.

Shortly following the Korean American Student Association's establishment in 1984, VSA can be considered the second oldest Asian American identity-based club at W&M. However, the organization went through periods of inactivity until allegedly becoming officially inactive in 2015.

Row 1: Hoa Ho, J.J White, Phiet Phung, Tam Nguyen, Long Le, Change Tan, Hai Pham. Row 2: Minh-Due Le, Khang Hiu, Fan Tan, Camille Andrews, Hang Voqui, Phoung Le, Trucle Nguyen, Fances Tran, Ann Nguyen, Phuong Lui, Huynh Pham, Tran Luu. Row 3: Neil Shah, Richard Pham, Jonathan Davis, Long Duong, Hanh Le, Tong Nguyen, Chris Paisley

The Vietnamese Student Association was officially revived in January of 2021 by student leaders Kenneth Tieu '22, Angelique Vo '22, Lemai Vo '21, and Brandon Nguyen '24.

Growing up, Kenneth was surrounded by cousins and extended family, as his grandmother had nine children, all of whom ended up living in America and would regularly get together multiple times a month. Without a primary space for Vietnamese students at W&M, it was hard for Kenneth to make friends with a similar cultural background, and he felt disconnected from the culture that he was used to having at home.

“I didn't realize it at first, because when coming from home, I would speak Vietnamese every day, I would be just immersed in Vietnamese culture…I felt a little disconnected from that and wanted to bring that to campus so that I could kind of connect with that part more”

Ultimately, the re-establishment of VSA was very successful. Their first major event was for the Lunar New Year. They organized a Tết Exchange event in which students were paired together with a “Tet Exchange Twin” or (T.E.T.) to decorate and exchange Li Xi and lanterns.

According to past members of VSA prior to 2020, conflict emerged within the club as recent Vietnamese immigrants disagreed with political views and the identities of earlier refugee Vietnamese Americans. 

This issue resurfaced as the new VSA and Kenneth had to decide whether to play the South Vietnamese national anthem and fly the South Vietnamese flag before their first cultural show. 

When broaching the subject, Kenneth was very careful with his words because of how sensitive this topic is to many Vietnamese people.

Kenneth stated, “I would like to preface this by saying I definitely am not well versed in all of the, you know, proceedings, I only know what my experiences are, and what my what my parents told me, and what I've experienced from talking to other members of VSA…it's really a division between like...those who are from southern Vietnam, who left their homes in search of a better life [after the Vietnam War]. And those who are from Vietnam [recently]. And this is a problem not not unique to our VSA.”

The new VSA ultimately chose to play the South Vietnamese national anthem and fly the South Vietnamese flag because that is what the majority of students in VSA identifies with. 

“So one of the main conflicts was, during our culture show to display the southern Vietnamese flag, and sing the southern Vietnamese anthem…that was the flag of the Democratic resistance to the communist regime at the time.

“And I'm trying to pick my words very carefully, because it's a very delicate topic, and I don't know much about it either. But…it's a flag that brings a lot of comfort to a lot of southern families here that came after the war because it represents the country that they know. And they're very proud of that and they are vehemently opposed to the current flag and the current government. 

“But at the same time, the people who are born in Vietnam…they don't identify with that flag, they identify with the flag of Vietnam currently, which is the yellow star and the red background. 

“So…both sides [didn’t] feel represented…but ultimately, our decision came down to the fact that the majority of our students and our families came from the war…so we decided to keep the southern flag and the southern anthem

“Our VSA is a part of the Mid Atlantic Student Association, so we're part of this regional organization. So it was standard to have the southern [Vietnamese] flag and stuff like that. Also, it's like the flag of the majority of our student population or where we trace back our heritage.”

The Southern Vietnamese flag also evokes strong memories for many VSA member’s parents and family members.

“I heard tales from like, other friends where their families have came to our show, and they're like, ‘Wow, I haven't heard the southern vietnamese anthem in a while, it brings me back home, [and] brings joyous memories.’ So like, many, many factors played in our decision.”