Heightening Awareness

Joseph W. Secondine '92 divides the Native American population at Harvard into three categories. One, he says, is "the people who put it down on their applications because they think it will help them get in."

Another is "the people who know that they are part Native American and they come here and can learn about it," he says. And a third, he says, is comprised of Native Americans with "strong identities."

"The community is hardest for that last category," he says.

Secondine belongs to the middle group. A native of rural Tennessee, he always lived with a split identity, of sorts.

"The way my family taught me is that I can be both," he says. "It's not a question of picking one or the other. I considered myself a Native American and a Caucasian. Some people consider that a conflict, but I don't think so."

At home, Secondine says, "diversity wasn't really an issue. Everyone at school was either white or Black. No Hispanics, no Asian-Americans--there weren't even any non-Protestants. It was very segregated."

It took some time, he says, before he adjusted to the racial and ethnic diversity at Harvard.

"It took a while to see past race," he says. "I came here with the ability to look at people for people, but race was always the first and primary component of that."

Secondine now helps his family dispel some of the stereotypes that may result from lack of contact with people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds. He recalls bringing his answering machine home this past summer and observing his family hear some of the messages.

When a woman's voice spoke at one point, a family member asked Secondine who that was.

"That's Ming," Secondine said.

"Oh. She doesn't sound Asian," the family member noted.

"She's from Ohio," Secondine replied.

Secondine is co-president of Native Americans at Harvard (NAH), an organization that he describes as small but growing.

"I think that a lot of the other student groups--RAZA, LaO, BSA, AAA--wish that we could be more active, that we could send representatives to different groups," he says. "Our manpower is small...one or two is all you can muster."

But Secondine says NAH's position on campus is unique.

"It is one of the smaller ones, and we can be overshadowed," he says. "At the same time, I think proportionally we're doing very well. Native Americans are a very small minority nationwide and campuswide."

The movie Dances With Wolves, Secondine says, probably helped to heighten awareness of Native Americans on campus. The upcoming quincentennial of Columbus's landing in America, he says, will also make Native Americans more visible.

Secondine is also involved in the admissions office's undergraduate minority recruiting program. He takes an annual trip to Oklahoma, which has a significant Native American population, to encourage minority students to apply to Harvard.

While he finds the admissions program important and helpful, Secondine thinks Harvard can take some definite actions to increase diversity among the student body and the faculty.

"I think I would expand the recruitment program to include coordination for scattered areas--places like Oregon and South Dakota," he says. He would also establish "a period of loan forgiveness for minorities and women to get Ph.D's."