People of Asian descent make up nearly 25 percent of Binghamton University’s student population, according to BU’s Office of Institutional Research. But although they may not make up the majority of students here, for many of them, it’s enough to earn some accommodations on the University calendar.

Last semester the Asian Student Union began lobbying to have the Lunar New Year recognized as a University holiday. The Lunar New Year is celebrated by many Asian countries, however, it is often simply mislabeled as the Chinese New Year. Other places where it’s observed include Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The holiday is called “Tet” in Vietnam, and “Solnol” in Korea. Each country, and even each individual family, celebrates the holiday differently: it is a holiday meant for the celebration of family, the rough equivalent of the American Thanksgiving.

“Do we really want to wait until we’re alumni before realizing the importance of knowing one’s culture?” said Man Fung Wong, a senior biology major and the president of ASU.

ASU said its lobbying was dismissed by BU’s administration, so they’ve enlisted the support of the Student Association.

“What we gained from this was that it was a major concern within the Asian population and that we had a ton of support from the SA and the SA groups,” Wong said.

The Student Assembly, the SA’s legislative arm, is working to make the University aware of the situation. “If we present the right information to the administration, they will understand,” said David Belsky, the SA’s executive vice president.

The SA plans to gather information on student desire, population statistics and other related information to be presented to administrators, Belsky said, in the hopes that it will help them see the Lunar New Year as a legitimate inclusion in the University calendar.

“What we actually wanted was to have the holiday recognized by the campus, so that the professors would not be surprised if … [a] student asked to be excused from class so that they might be able to go home and celebrate the holiday with their family,” Wong said. “We will continue to address this issue until there is some closure.”

It may take a while: the University calendar is produced years in advance. But Wong isn’t fazed.

“We kind of figured it wouldn’t be able to be changed for the next couple of years,” he said. “But we’re bringing it up so future [students] can bring it up and we can have some change. We want [the administration] to realize that there is a big interest in this.”