Evangelicals build flock on campus
At Cal, Christian groups find eager adherents among Asian American students
Vanessa Hua, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, May 21, 2007

The end-of-the-year mood in a classroom at UC Berkeley's Warren Hall was giddy as a crowd of mostly Asian American students watched a slide show of good times and candid shots and shared stories of intense pressure from their parents.

They weren't celebrating their culture, though. They were celebrating Christ.
"So here I am, all of me," the students sang. "Finally, everything. Wholly, wholly, wholly, I am wholly, wholly, wholly yours."

For three hours, they shared impassioned testimonies of faith and prayed for one another, laying hands in turn on each person receiving support. The graduating seniors passed down a 6-foot wooden cross for next year's senior leaders to keep in their apartment.

Asian Americans dominate evangelical Christian groups at UC Berkeley, far outstripping their share of enrollment, even as the number of Asian Americans on campus has grown markedly. The trend is visible to varying degrees at several of the nation's elite universities. the rest