New England school marks 65th Khmer student group

Amy Ear (L, Treasurer), Patrick Lour (R, President)

Dan Vang, break dancing

Originally posted on http://bit.ly/uconn-camsa

MANSFIELD, CT– Home to the first silk mill in the United States and surrounded by protected parks and preserves, Storrs is a small community centered on life at the University of Connecticut. And in this unlikely environment stands a small but committed group of student leaders who want to bring Khmer culture to campus.

Leading this effort is 21-year-old senior Patrick Lour, who recently mobilized his fellow students to establish the Cambodian Student Association, or CamSA. In late August of 2011, after being inactive for eight years, CamSA became recognized once again in the university’s student organization directory. Its registration marks the 65th Khmer-student organization (KSO) in the nation.

The first known KSO, however, was founded in the fall of 1969 on the campus of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Its inception was a result of the first wave of international students who began to arrive in the U.S. after Cambodia's independence from France. Before its lapse into inactivity, CamSA, like the Cambodian Student Society of CSULB, served and supported Khmer students and worked to raise cultural awareness among the campus community.

State Supreme Court rejects effort to build [first Cambodian] temple in Newtown (Connecticut)

January 30, 2008
The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut, USA)

HARTFORD, Conn. - The state Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a Buddhist society's efforts to build a temple in Newtown.

The Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut argued last year that Newtown was violating state and federal laws that protect religious freedom when it denied a permit for the temple.

Supporters had said the Cambodian Buddhist temple, which would have been the first in the state, was important to preserving their religion and culture because elders are dying off. Many of those trying to build the temple fled the killing fields of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge 30 years ago.

But Newtown officials and neighbors of the 10-acre site where the temple would have been built said it could attract up to 450 people on days when religious festivals are held. The Planning and Zoning Commission declared that level of activity "too intense."