Mutual respect and a common goal of promoting dignity brought UW-Madison Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets and International Student Services members together for a luncheon Monday.
ROTC and ISS members praised their common bond of tolerance and respect.
'One of our responsibilities is mutual respect and dignity, regardless of religion or race,' AFROTC Capt. Rick Hargrove said, adding that the organization would pursue any necessary means to achieve these goals.
'We respect everyone else,' UW-Madison junior AFROTC Cadet Lisa North said. 'We want everyone else to respect us.'
'ROTC is unique, just as ISS is unique [in that] they both, in a sense, separate you from the mainstream student,' Hargrove added. He said this commonality gave them a similar goal.
Members of ISS discussed the challenges facing international students on this campus, from language and cultural barriers to immigration issues, but also stressed that ISS has the same philosophy as the ROTC.
ISS Advisor Maylee Moua-eue said, 'I speak for the organization [in saying] we do not tolerate racism of any kind.'
Another ISS advisor said he hoped the day would help international students understand that the uniform is not always a sign of force, as in many of their home countries, but rather a sign of friendship and respect.
The luncheon was led by Hargrove, North and AFROTC cadets UW-Madison junior Jody Suszko and UW-Madison senior Jeremiah Castilla. The cadets discussed the goals the ROTC had in creating the Mutual Appreciation Day.
'We're here today ... to increase awareness of the ROTC and create a bond with ISS,' said Castilla. They reiterated the fact that even though they were uniformed members of the ROTC, they were still students working on their degrees.
'Our first priority is to get an education ... if you don't get a degree, you don't become an officer,' North said.
The luncheon ended in the reading of a proclamation and presentation of a token of appreciation by the ROTC to an ISS representative. The proclamation outlined a plan of mutual respect and dignity between the groups and the appreciation of the value of each group. It named the first day of October as ISS-AFROTC Mutual Appreciation Day.
Castilla said the day's activities were 'about a pride you have inside you. That's what we're trying to do today'respect people.'
Susie Wang, a student from China, said she had little idea what the ROTC did before the luncheon. She attended out of curiosity about the ROTC and the Mutual Appreciation Day.
'[This is] a good chance to understand something I don't,' she said. 'I want to find our more about it.'
