Good First Steps

RECENTLY, student groups have voiced concern over the lack of courses targeted at minority issues in the College. With scant opportunity to study ethnic and minority issues, a Harvard education is severely lacking.

So this month Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) A. Michael Spence proposed one response to these problems. The administration plans to bring a visiting scholar to campus each semester to teach courses about ethnic groups in the United States, providing for about five classes in ethnic studies each year.

Beefing up ethnic studies is a necessary response to changing U.S. demographics. Hopefully, the new courses will reach a substantial portion of Harvard students and help them understand the myriad of groups making America their home.

The plan shows a willingness on the part of the administration to listen to a student concern and try to address it. By increasing the number of ethnic course offerings from one this semester to five in the future, FAS would boost an academic area it has rarely noticed in the past. Students can only benefit from broadened offerings.

BUT the plan is not without its flaws. It would link all ethnicities and disciplines under a catch-all heading, "ethnic studies." Lumping together Asian-American literature and Mexican-American history and Native American art fails to recognize the inherent differences among the fields and may prove as effective as expecting the history, fine arts and literature departments to coordinate their efforts.

With only one scholar on campus per term, students would have to wait several semesters to take a course about a certain ethnic group. One or two classes every four years will hardly be enough to satisfy the interests of groups anxious to have their backgrounds represented.

Students will not know enough about future course offerings to include ethnic classes in their plan of study. So while students will consider this area when they search for electives, they will not be able to rely on it as a foundation for any academic agenda--whether it be grounding for a thesis or general concentration work. Ethnic studies will remain peripheral to the Harvard experience.

Harvard has taken the first step in recognizing a crucial and traditionally ignored area. To spread cultural understanding throughout the most general Harvard audience, the course ought to be incorporated into the Core curriculum. Departments must be receptive to the scholars brought in by the program and integrate their courses into regular department offerings. Hopefully, the University will expand the program in the future, and address its problems along the way.