The Filipino Intercultural Society of Drexel University has been suspended from operating as a student organization since Wednesday, May 7, due to alleged misconduct within the organization. As a result, FISDU was forced to cancel its annual Barrio Fiesta culture show, this year titled “Malaya,” which was slated to take place on Saturday, May 10.
The crew of FISDU’s Barrio Fiesta show expressed to the Triangle that they are incredibly shocked by the suspension and upset by Barrio’s cancellation due to the massive amounts of work they put into bringing the show to life. With unique performances every year and traditional food served beforehand, Barrio is a musical showcase of Filipino culture that typically draws hundreds of people.
“Every year we do Barrio, we base it [on] a movie that is already existing. This year it’s Moana. We had put our own twist into [it]!” said Marcella Siahaan, Barrio’s co-chair and director.
“It hit me out of nowhere, I didn’t really know of anything that would [have] gotten us suspended with Drexel’s student conduct. Even when I asked E-board… it also hit them out of nowhere,” James Virtucio, a fifth-year biomedical engineering major and a Barrio dancer and cast member, reflected.
According to Siahaan, “The first announcement wasn’t that Barrio was canceled; it was just that we [had] to stop all operations at the time. And then the second announcement came, that Barrio was canceled, not officially, but just [that] we [were] suspended with no explanation why.”
“I’ve been working on this show since August, and then January was when we started dance rehearsals and prop sessions. And that’s when, I felt like more of the burden of everyone else’s work was just gone, like our months’ work of planning and practicing was gone. So it was [a] very big shock for all of us,” Siahaan recounted.
A petition on Change.org was started by Barrio cast member Patty Augustin on Thursday, May 8, and has been circulating on social media. It currently has over 1,200 signatures from supporters urging Drexel’s Dean of Student Life to lift the suspension.
“I actually started with making… an email template to send the dean, just so that we could get traction on our case. But I wanted to do something more than just emails, and I created this petition just so that we could get the attention that Barrio matters to people and that it’s more than just a show.”
Augustin and Siahaan express how the show is the pinnacle of FISDU’s efforts to bring Filipino culture to the Drexel community and provide a sense of solidarity to the students of Southeast Asian descent at Drexel, as well as their families.
“Last year, someone… brought their son or their child to Barrio, and this was the child’s first time seeing their culture being displayed in that way, and it made them feel a sense of home. This is a place that everyone comes to because it’s their safe place,” said Siahaan.
“[Last Barrio], my best friend even came, and she goes to Villanova… and when she came, she said that she felt such an overwhelming sense of home, and she’s Indonesian.This was her first time seeing a culture being put out there as like a big show where hundreds of people are watching.”
According to Augustin, “My boyfriend’s [family], they’re all Caucasian, so when they visited my show last year, they didn’t really know much about my culture. They knew I was Filipino, but that was the extent of it. So… they were able to try the food and watch our dances and listen to some Tagalog, and after the show, they came up to me, almost amazed, like, ‘why did you hide this from us?’”
The suspension is threatening the senior students in Barrio’s cast and crew’s final chance to express their heritage through performance. It has also taken away time to bond with each other through the production and rehearsal experience in their remaining days at Drexel.
FISDU has yet to sort out the suspension with the Dean of Student Life and is unsure how they could re-host the show after the spring quarter ends.
“FISDU’s E-board would change to a new group of people starting summer term… they have a lot of adjusting to do. I won’t be optimistic about it, but it will be tough,” said Virtucio.
With the suspension still in effect, the Drexel FISDU general body members and the Barrio cast and crew remain unable to put on an inclusive show open for students of all ethnicities to participate in.
According to Virticio, “Filipino culture is rooted in community, and as FISDU, we also try to be welcoming of everyone… [which is] why we’re called the [Filipino] Intercultural Society instead of just the Filipino Society. Barrio is a way to both grow in our community… [and] to introduce other people into our community.”
“It is so important to have a community outside of school and work [but] that was taken away from us… Barrio is more than just a show, and it has been taken away from us,” said Siahaan.