Good Move, But Not Enough

THE COLLEGE'S decision last week to publicize minority orientation events in its official Freshman Week calendar marks the welcome end of a drawn out and largely unnecessary dispute. The events, which should never have been taken off the calendar in the first place, will be restored in a new and improved book of listings. Whereas in the past the calendar only included College sponsored events, the revised version will be open to all student groups to publicize Freshman Week activities.

But if the recent decision, which came in a vote of the College Life committee, answered the immediate question of Freshman Week listings, it did not confront the underlying controversy--the College's contention that the minority orientation events are "separatist" and its near-paranoid fear of such divisions. In the past, the Freshman Dean's office not only publicized, but also helped sponsor the minority activities. In 1981, however, Dean of Freshmen Henry C. Moses announced his decision to withdraw supports for the events, claiming they created a "double track" for minority freshmen that separated them from their classmates.

However, minority student leaders have rightly countered that their events, which are open to all students, merely provide a needed support net-work and sense of community for minority freshmen. It is these same legitimate concerns that the College itself caters to in April, when it hosts a minority pre-freshmen weekend to attract minorities to Harvard.

The path toward resolving this hypocrisy is twofold. The administration should not merely tolerate, but actually endorse, the Freshman Week minority activities. The spirit of cooperation should extend throughout the year, with the College involving minority student organizations in administrative planning that affects them. More important, however, Harvard should seek to redress the conditions that make these events so necessary--by increasing minority recruitment for positions throughout the Faculty. As a recently released affirmative action report indicates, minorities are highly underrepresented in both teaching and administrative positions at Harvard. Minority students have repeatedly cited the low number of minority faculty and administrators as factors that create a hostile environment for minority students, and heighten the need for minority support networks.

Adding a few lines to the Freshman Week calendar will not alleviate this mistrust; only substantive hiring advances will.