Dear Fellow Chinese Students and Scholars,

We, Xing Zheng and Liu Yuhe, hereby announce our decision to campaign for the sixth term President and Vice-President of the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States (IFCSS).

During the past five years, the IFCSS has made tremendous efforts with admirable achievements in representing and protecting the interests of the Chinese students and scholars; in fulfilling the obligation of helping advancing our motherland and the Chinese community in the US; as well as in promoting the value of freedom, democracy and human rights. However, it is far from satisfactory. Today, while honoring the efforts and achievements of the IFCSS, we see many problems with and new challenges to this organization.

As long term local CSSA activists and CSS community organizers in the past years, we are clearly aware of the demands and interests of our fellows because we have been one of them; We have come across so many occasions together with our fellows in local and regional Chinese community activities, sharing the same feelings and passions, because we care our community; We have contributed our share of energy and time in numerous efforts to constructively and significantly build up our local organization and the IFCSS because we recognize the necessity of healthy and strong organizations backing up our fellow Chinese students and scholars scattered in this land.With the same philosophy, we look forward to seeing a stronger and more respectable national organization that will truly represent the Chinese students and scholars; will protect the interests of the entire Chinese student community; will advance the development of a mature Chinese community without segregating it from the mainstream society; and will promote culture and science exchanges between our motherland and the U.S. with a firm stand on its independence and without sacrificing our pursuit for democracy.

Dear fellows, we have confidence in you and in ourselves. We are confident not only because we share the same feelings and desires with our firm commitment for a stronger IFCSS, but also because we have gained experience by involving ourselves in the Chinese community activities, locally or nationwide. We actively promoted the IFCSS health insurance program, worked with other activists on the successful operation of the IFCSS Education Fund for primary and middle-school teachers and students in China, coordinated the effort seeking for justice for Zhao Hua's death, promoted strongly for the new comers' protection, played leading role in the IFCSS Council and among some long time IFCSS activists, participated in the activities protesting the CBS report hurting the community.

However, the more we are involved in the IFCSS, the more seriously we are concerned with the IFCSS, as we voiced out on various occasions before. We are concerned with the lack of clear vision on the direction of development and long term plan for the IFCSS as a community organization; We are concerned with its significant decrease of public interest and participation and its lack of respect towards the grassroots Chinese student organizations; We are dissatisfied with its lack of continuity and consistency in policy-making and project implementation, its stagnancy of professionalization and its intricate internal factions. These problems were reflected in several sharp twists and turns in the IFCSS in the past year, such as the interests of the new comers and the IFCSS finance dispute and so forth. These twists and turns profoundly disclosed the immaturity and the urgent need of reforming the IFCSS.

Facing these problems as well as new challenges (such as more and more new and younger students being involved in the IFCSS), we believe that, while standing firmly on the principles defined by its Constitution, the IFCSS is in urgent need of new blood with new thinking, new policies with new projects, new working spirit with firm commitment, and new practice with down-to-the-earth working style and absolute compliance with its rules. It is the time for changes. For this purpose, we will reveal in the coming weeks our campaign platform, which includes our plans for: the Construction of a Chinese Community; Community Service (including General Protection and New Comers Protection); Connection to Grassroots CSS and Professional Organizations; Enhancement of CSS Involvement in US Mainstream Society; IFCSS Professionalization; Promotion of the Exchange Programs with China; Efforts of Improving Human Rights in China, and so on.

Dear fellow students and scholars, by presenting us to you, we are presenting a formal commitment to making IFCSS the true representative of our members, making the Headquarters the down-to-the-earth working place for you, and making full use of our predecessors' experiences and achievements for the benefits of our members. We are young, but we have the courage to accept the challenges. Now, we are turning to you, our fellow students and scholars, by inviting you to join our efforts. We invite your comments, inputs, as well as criticisms on all the subjects that concern you and the IFCSS. We invite your evaluation on our platform to make it stronger and more feasible in fulfilling the common will of most CSS in the U.S.A. Dear fellows, it will be an honor to us if you contact us. Also, we sincerely hope that you will come to join us in the IFCSS 6th Convention. We firmly believe that, by standing together with you, we will make a difference -- a stronger and better IFCSS.

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