Gcc-Usc Organizational Meeting Report Global

Gcc-Usc Organizational Meeting Report

Global China Connection 2011 University of Southern California Annual Meeting

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 8:00 PM.

The Global China Connection (GCC) is a network of non-profit, student-run organizational chapters established throughout 60 universities worldwide. The GCC University of Southern California (USC) chapter was recently established; its first organizational meeting occurred in HOH1 on the USC campus on September 14, 2011. According to the publicly distributed organizational materials about the GCC, the organization is dedicated to promoting the professional integration, development, and success of students in China. However, it seemed obvious to me that the organization focuses more on students from China rather than it is probably not necessarily students in China. I thought about this more on my way to the event. I imagined that in forming the group originally, the founders considered using "from China" but that may have been changed because it suggests that membership is limited to Chinese students. With respect to GCC chapters in China, the phrase "students in China" would be perfect because it does not differentiate students by any background. My guess was that nobody realized that outside of China, the phrase "students in China" is linguistically problematic for a worldwide organization that serves both Chinese and non-Chinese students. My expectation was to find out that the organization might have been best described as one that promotes the goals of students and of Chinese globalization.

Nevertheless, I hoped to have the opportunity to meet other students who are similarly situated, and perhaps, to meet recent graduates who might be able to share their observations and their experiences in a manner that would be helpful to current students.

I anticipated being introduced to an organization that would be able to provide valuable insight, advice, and resources to students hoping to improve their professional opportunities after their graduation from college.

In principle, the GCC is a grassroots organization because it was established by as well as managed and staffed by student volunteers rather than by any formal institution. The GCC members are all individuals who have chosen to create an association among them to promote their similar but largely individual goals. Furthermore, there is a grassroots element to the organization by virtue of the fact that the impetus or motivation of many members and prospective members is related to the prevailing economic conditions in at least two respects: First, there is the (negative) circumstance represented by the global economic recession. Second, there is the (positive) circumstance of increasing globalization and the spread of economic opportunities on a worldwide basis. The former provides a need for participation and a reason for the group to exist; the latter provides additional potential economic opportunities capable of improving some of the negative circumstances that generate increasing interest in professional development organizations. I expect that there will be a shared excitement among all of the participants and an eager anticipation of useful information and advice.

Field Notes

Global China Connection 2011 University of Southern California Annual Meeting

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 8:00 PM.

Present at the event were 35 students and approximately one dozen individuals assisting the organization. A large percentage of the participants were of Asian descent but there were also members of other races and numerous different apparent nationalities as well. As far as I could tell, all of the female attendees were Asian; it seemed that all of the racial and ethnic diversity was limited to male participants.

As soon as I entered the building in which the meeting was scheduled, I encountered an aisle with a large sign that assured me that I was in the right place but did nothing to help my confusion about why the organization chooses to describe itself the way that id does. It read as follows:

"Global China Connection is a leading organization for promoting cooperation between premier students in China and the international community. A nonprofit student-run network of over 60 university chapters worldwide, the GCC platform creates unprecedented opportunities to build long-term relationships that will change the world."

Many of the participants and attendees arrived substantially before 8:00 PM and there was the persistent buzz of many different conversations throughout the hallway leading into the main room where the event was scheduled to be held. There were refreshments and finger foods laid out on tables and people adopted the familiar ritual of filling small paper plates with snacks and engaging in small talk that arose as they intermingled in that way. Even without hearing the actual content of other people's conversations, it was obvious that most of those conversations were very similar: the individuals involved took turns asking one another questions that allowed everyone to introduce himself to the others and to identify mutual interests and circumstances.

I noticed that there seemed to be two different types of attire and two different types of demeanor linked to each of those two types of dress. First, there were several student attendees who were dressed impeccably in business attire, almost as though they expected to be interviewed or given an opportunity to impress someone and be offered a position on the spot. They seemed to gravitate to one another and there was an air of nervousness to their mannerisms and behavior. Second, there were those who were dressed the same way but seemed to carry themselves in a manner meant to suggest that they did not really "need" any type of professional assistance from an organization. They seemed more reserved and remained in relative isolation, just observing without making any real attempt to interact with others.

The other type of attire that I noticed seemed conspicuously informal, especially with some of the group dressed so professionally. Just as in the case of their better dressed counterparts, there seemed to be two different type of demeanor among this group. First, there were some informally dressed attendees who carried themselves with an air of casual professionalism; they appeared to have shown up to the event simply wearing their ordinary daily attire. I noticed that one of them was on crutches because of some sort of ankle or foot injury. Second, there were those who were informally attired but who carried themselves and behaved as though they might have been embarrassed to take the event more seriously, almost as though it were a psychological defense mechanism. Like some of their impeccably dressed counterparts, they also seemed to gravitate to one another but their conversations seemed to be somewhat inappropriately loud for their surroundings and there seemed to be an excessive amount of laughter or joking around among them. It occurred to me that there was an apparent similarity below the surface between this group and the well dressed attendees who kept to themselves observing. Likewise, the casually dressed but more appropriately behaving attendees seemed to have more in common with the better dressed attendees who were making a genuine effort to network with others before the event actually started.

At a few minutes to 8:00, the doors to the event room were opened and everybody began moving in the same direction. There were signs in several places along the walls that could not be missed that announced that no cellular phones were to be used during the event and that asked people to make sure that their phones were powered off. Based on plenty of similar experiences, I looked around a bit and tried to imagine how many cell phones would end up ringing during the meeting and to whom they would probably belong. My prediction was that if any cell phones rang during the presentation, they would be most likely to be in the suit vest pocket of someone who was dressed well but non-communicative out in the hallway or in one of the cargo shorts pockets of someone who had seemed inappropriately casual and loud outside.

The presentation began with introductions by the GCC President and Vice President. They shared the floor and took turns speaking and referring back and forth to what the other was saying. They explained that the goal of Global China Connection in general is to promote and encourage social, cultural, business, and philanthropic exchange between China and the global undergraduate community. In principle, they hope to achieve these goals by establishing and cultivating collaborative working relationships between American university groups and China, largely through a series of many interactive events. They continued by explaining that the GCC is a three-year-old organization and that this is the inaugural first meeting of the USC chapter. They expressed the hope that a USC GCC chapter will help bring together the greater Los Angeles and Southern California community and generate increased collaboration between members of the Asian community and leadership-oriented bodies on campus.

I noticed that the attendee with the crutches had propped them up next to his seat in a way that obstructed the view of the person sitting immediately behind him. It seemed that the person sitting behind the crutches was hesitant to disturb the student with the crutches because she shifted several different ways in her seat first, before finally reaching forward to politely ask him to move them. He reacted perfectly appropriately and looked around behind him for a place to lean them on his other side that would not obstruct anybody else. Since he was sitting in an isle seat, he leaned them against the outer edge of his own seat. However, I could tell that more than one person nearby notice that the crutches were now almost certain to slide and eventually come crashing down on the floor or hit someone else nearby as they fell. Another person politely tapped the owner of the crutches and whispered something while gesturing and then he gently laid them down on the floor and slid them so that they were underneath the row of seats underneath their owner. From the combination of the verbal exchange, head nods, and hand gestures, I realized that the person who had alerted the student with the crutches had indicated to him that he would help him retrieve them from underneath the row of seats when he needed them. A few people who were nearby smiled at one another and then everybody seemed to go back to paying attention to the presentation.

According to the presenters, the specific immediate goals of establishing a GCC chapter at USC are to (1) help build a global network of future leaders by establishing friendships that link members of the USC community to China and to the international community simultaneously; (2) to increase awareness and understanding within the USC community of China through collaborative programs across an extensive network of USC graduate schools, research centers, alumni, and student organizations; (3) to become an immediate and valuable source of direct access to the 50-university GCC-network advertising and promotional opportunities for members of the USC undergraduate community.

They introduced the audience to the concept of an organization that had the benefits of centralization and of the respective advantages of decentralization at the same time. In that regard, they presented a large visual depiction of the structure of the GCC, reproduced below:

On one hand, the GCC maintains a central office that coordinates some of the initiatives that further the goals and the success of the organization. On the other hand, the many different chapters also have the freedom to operate independently in a manner that allows them to tailor their operations to the needs and opportunities of their specific communities.

The presentation continued with a more detailed explanation of that the GCC is, already after only 3 years in existence, the largest student organization in the world that is dedicated to creating and maximizing engagement between the future leaders of China and the international community. Toward that end, the GCC organization coordinates initiatives with the top Chinese universities and with corporate partners to further the development of an international professional network and to provide valuable professional business experience. Among the organizations already involved with the GCC are Lenovo and the Sino Group.

One of the attendees who was dressed very professionally raised a hand and when the speaker acknowledged him, he asked: "In terms of individual students, what does GCC membership actually mean?" It was at that time that a cell phone rang on the other side of the room and another well dressed attendee reached into his suit pocket to turn it off while making an apologetic gesture toward the lectern with his other hand. The speaker then resumed, thanked the individual who had raised his hand for his question and replied, "One of the functions that the GCC central management provides is the coordination of internship and research opportunities in China as well as in the United States. Naturally, the types of internships and research opportunities we focus on are those that would be of particular interest and value to students with a strong interest in China."