Forum Discusses Gender, Race

Students, professors and College adminstrators addressed issues of ethnicity and gender at Harvard in a forum held Saturday at Agassiz Hall at Radcliffe Yard.

The Office of Race Relations and Minority affairs, the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and Radcliffe College co-sponsored the event, which was called "Difficult Dialogues: Race and Gender in the Classroom and Residences."

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, speaking to participants, called the forum an "important" step toward "improving the fabric of our common life."

James Wilkinson '54, director of the Bok Center, said old the forum allowed people to "get beyond simple political correctness" and address real problems.

The event opened with a student panel speaking on how race and gender had affected their lives at Harvard and elsewhere.

Female students expressed concern that many campus ethnic organizations tend to be male-oriented and male-dominated.

"You can be manipulated and you can lose your voice," said Sujatha Bahga '93, a member of the panel. She said that she has often felt like the "token womanist" in groups or events.

Bahga said that an important question raised was "whether or not ethnicity and feminism or womanism are mutually exclusive."

She and another panelist, Gillian D. Cohen '94, said the forum was extremely valuable to them and other participants.

"It is a difficult dialogue to engage in, but I think that bringing these things up gets to the heart of the problem," said Cohen.

The event also included small panels on topics ranging from "unintentional discrimination" to "how to talk" in a diverse environment.

Later in the day, Judith A. Jackson, a writer and artist, presented a one-woman theatrical selection.

The forum closed with a "plenary discussion" on the performance and other events of the day.