Kelley without Borders pairs international, domestic students

IU student group Kelley Without Borders is bridging the social gap between domestic and international students.

The group’s new one-on-one program facilitates a cross-cultural experience by matching pairs of domestic and international students.

“It’s an unfortunate reality, but even with such a multicultural campus, international and domestic students do not branch out of their comfort zones,” Max Lundin, KWOB press secretary, said. “This makes us prone to seclusion from individuals of different cultural, ethnic or religious backgrounds.”

Freshman Nick Brant, an American student, was paired with junior Zhemin Gong from China as a part of the group’s one-on-one initiative. Brant said the two have met for meals and caught up with each other in between classes throughout the semester.

“Open up your mind and understand how people view the world,” Brant said. “In a business perspective, it’s very important for us to learn how to interact with people from all parts of all backgrounds.”

According to IU-Bloomington’s official enrollment report, international students make up more than 14 percent of the fall 2013 student body, a 6.8 percent increase from fall 2012.

Since its foundation, KWOB has accumulated almost 100 members and has partnered with organizations like the Kappa Eta Phi business fraternity and Ascend IU in an effort to create a more global, multicultural and integrated IU, Lundin said.

Members filled out a comprehensive survey where they indicated their nationality and expectations from the program, and the duos formed from there.

Lundin said the representation of domestic and international students in the group is about the same, making it easy to pair them up.

In early November, members gathered in the Kelley School of Business to compete in the group’s first “Global Dash.” The pairsparticipated in language and culture guessing games and an egg-drop contest.

KWOB’s goals for the spring semester include partnerships with student organizations, increased membership and fundraising events.

“The fact that we had 90 students show up was beyond any of our expectations,” Lundin said. “Now that we have a member base, there are so many opportunities for us to do more.”

Leaders of KWOB are currently developing a cross-cultural study abroad opportunity with the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh.

De was born in India, but moved to Munster, Ind., at an early age. He said his perspective on the international and domestic student divide changed when he enrolled in a class composed mostly of international students.

“The world is opening up,” De said. “But unfortunately, I know a lot of students aren’t ready for that.”

De said he notices the divide between international and American students every day at the library, restaurants and any public hotspot he visits.

“It’s the elephant on campus,” he said. “International and American students are divided by an invisible partition, one that Kelley Without Borders is trying to break.”

Follow reporter Matt Bloom on Twitter @matthew_bloom.