Events

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is hosting a

day-long Bullying Prevention Summit this Saturday in New York, where the

Department of Education will release new data demonstrating that harassment is

particularly severe for Asian American students.

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) staff attorney Thomas Mariadason will join keynote speaker Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, media outlets including Facebook, MTV, and Common Sense Media, as well as students, parents, and other advocates at the Summit.

“Post 9/11, bias-based bullying toward religious and immigrant communities has been a consistent issue, and it continues to be under reported,” said Mariadason, who advocates across the country for municipalities to adopt anti-harassment policies and monitors regulations, including Mayor Bloomberg’s Chancellor’s Regulation A-832 in New York City.

“We’ve seen the egregious effects bias-based harassment has on students when there is a failure to intervene, from the violence at South Philadelphia High School in 2009 to reports we received in years past from the former Lafayette High School in Brooklyn,” said Mariadason. “The problem persists, and it is a critical time for the White House to address these issues.”

Mariadason will be speaking at the 12 p.m. panel on how students, parents, and advocates can respond to harassment when it is directed toward members of a particular

community, and the importance of language access for reporting incidents.

WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE — BULLYING PREVENTION SUMMIT

Saturday, October 29, 2011

TIME: 9:30 a.m. ET

PLACE: CUNY Hunter College Main Cafeteria, 695 Park Ave., New York City (Media entrance is at 68th St. and Lexington Ave.)

PARTICIPANTS:

Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General, Department of

Justice

Kiran Ahuja, director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Amy Berman, enforcement director, Department of Education Office for Civil Rights

Deborah Temkin, Bullying Prevention Initiative coordinator,

Department of Education

Amardeep Singh, member, President’s Advisory Commission on

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Hector Vargas, member, President’s Advisory Commission on

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

May Ying Chen, member, President’s Advisory Commission on

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

John Liu, New York City Comptroller

Christine Quinn, speaker, New York City Council

Julissa Ferraras, council member, New York City Council

Thomas Mariadason, staff attorney, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Brooke Oberwetter, associate manager, Facebook

Noopur Agarwal, senior director, MTV Networks

Anne Schreiber, vice president, Common Sense Media

Loan Tran, high school student from Charlotte, N.C.

Trang Dang, high student from Philadelphia, Pa.

Shehnaz Abdeljaber, parent from Piscataway, N.J.

Media representatives interested in covering the White House AAPI Initiative’s

Bullying Prevention Summit should pre-credential by emailing their name, title,

organization and contact information to Toby Chaudhuri at mailto:toby.chaudhuri@ed.gov by Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Members of the public must register in advance to attend the summit at https://go.usa.gov/XgS.

Schedule: Saturday, October 29

All events listed are open press and all times local

9:30 a.m. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez joins senior Obama Administration and local officials to deliver keynote remarks to hundreds gathered at the White House AAPI Initiative’s bullying prevention summit.

10:30 a.m. Students and parents share their stories about bullying and advocates and experts discuss bullying effects on AAPI and Muslim American communities.

12 p.m. Obama Administration officials and public health professionals discuss what to do when bullied.

1 p.m. Public health professionals and community advocates discuss how to discuss bullying with children and parents.

2:30 p.m. Representatives from major social media networks discuss online bullying and how to stay safe on the Internet.

4 p.m. Obama Administration officials discuss the importance of filing harassment claims with the federal government and tools student can use to resolve issues