“I felt it was my best interest to, you know, make the most of it and just try to represent Cambodians in a positive light.”

“I want to prove those statistics wrong, you know, because we’re not always in good light when compared to other Asian ethnic groups.”

Michael Tea is the co-founder of the Cambodian Student Association (CSA). He studied at UCSD from 2000 to 2007 as an undergraduate majoring in Ethnic Studies. As a student at Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC), he was actively involved in the Asian and Pacific Islander Student Association (APSA). He initiated the Cambodian Student Association, formerly known as Cambodian Student Connection. This interview covers the topics of Michael Tea’s experiences and motives in founding CSA and the challenges he encountered. 

This interview was conducted via Zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2021. This interview was conducted by Amira Noeuv, a student at UCSD pursuing Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies.