As a Syracuse University Abroad alum, Remembrance Scholar, president of an Asian-American interest organization and advertising student, I am offended The Daily Orange published two ads for an SU Abroad Winter Break course, ‘Painting and Drawing India,’ in its Sept. 28 issue.

When I saw these ads, I thought the advertiser implicated that anyone of Indian descent is a monkey. I would imagine SU Abroad, one of our nation’s premier study abroad centers, would capture lively Indian culture through its promotions. Sadly, uninspiring images and unflattering taglines (such as ‘Take a ride on the wild side’ and ‘Hang with the monkeys’) that attempted to symbolize Indian culture were used in attempts to attract attention, interest, desire and action to this Winter Break class. Through my fellow ‘Cuse classmates’ experiences with modern-day India, there is more than the depressing images of monkeys and nearly dilapidated cars.

I demand whoever is responsible for the execution and publishing of the ad apologizes to the Syracuse community for careless thinking.

Jonathan Chan

Chinese Studies Minor