Foundation Advisors Elected

Ten students have been elected to next year's Student Advisory Committee (SAC) of the Harvard Foundation, the organization announced yesterday.

The student committee which allocates Foundation money to cultural and ethnic organizations will take office next fall.

The ten members of the newly elected SAC are Aida E. Bekele '94, Roger A. Fairfax '94, Lilia Fernandez '95, Frederick Y. Huang '94, Kenneth A. Katz '93, Ouzama N. Nicholson '94, Marlin B. Smith '94, Aaron J. Snow '93, Adam D. Taxin '93 and Grace T. Wang '93.

The committee will select its cochairs before the end of this term, according to outgoing Co-chair Muneer I. Ahmad '93.

In addition to overseeing Cultural Rhythms--a multi-ethnic arts performance--the committee allocates Foundation funds and plans Foundation-sponsored forums, discussions, and performances, according to Ahmad.

This year the SAC has also had to deal with the controversy surrounding Foundation director S. Allen Counter and outgoing SAC co-chair Natosha O. Reid '93, who, in a letter last month, criticized The Crimson's coverage of minority groups.

Newly elected SAC members, however, said their primary concern will be the regular administration of the Foundation's programs, hoping to improve the scheduling of and publicity for Foundation events.

Member-elect Wang said she wants the Foundation to "open up the communication lines" and become more receptive to student concerns by placing suggestion boxes in the libraries and establishing office hours for SAC members.

Wang, a former member of the Asian American Association steering committee, said that she hopes to introduce more activities to unify the different minority groups on campus.

"There's not been a large Asian representation," Wang said, "so I hope to integrate ideas of the different minority groups."

Member-elect Frederick Y. Huang '94 said also that he hopes to increase the number of minority groups represented on the Foundation, saying that he might reach out to organizations such as the Caribbean Club and the Vietnamese Student Association.

Huang said he hoped the recent race conflicts on a national scale would not affect the already troubled relations among minorities on campus.

"People should realize that we shouldn't push tensions further by sensationalizing things and making them seem worse than they even are," Huang said.

"On campus, I don't feel that tensions between students are that bad," he added, saying they are "a matter of everybody exploding the issue a little too much."

SAC members said that they hope to help improve communication through programs that target different combinations of minority organizations instead of individual groups.

Huang said the SAC hopes to convey the Foundation's message "that diversity is good, it is inevitable, and it can be useful."