Dean Epps an Ineffective and Insensitive Leader

We are writing to bring to attention our concerns regarding Dean Archie C. Epps III and his handling of race relations at Harvard. These are concerns which we have considered and discussed for most of the year, and we feel it would be negligence on our part if we let the year end without a formal recognition of these concerns.

To begin with, we do not feel that Dean Epps maintains a close correspondence with those student organizations which are most active in race relations at Harvard. He has never sustained any sort of regular contact with AAA. Although he has given us funding upon request, he seems to lack any true concern for our organization. Many of his policies and decisions concerning race relations are made without any student consultation or input. For example, his publication of the Handbook on Race Relations typifies what we perceive as a project which consumed a superfluous amount of time and funding but amounted to little more than a "menu" on race relations.

It was merely a compilation of already available resources, and it honestly did not provide any helpful information for organizations like ours at all. We believe that if those student organizations devoted to race relations had been given the chance to profit from the time and resources committed to the Handbook on Race Relations, they could have yielded greater benefits to the Harvard community. The Handbook on Race Relations was a token of goodwill and a good publicity show, yet it not only glossed over the entire issue of race relations but also avoided any provisions for substantial solutions and improvements.

Keeping in mind our grievances about the Handbook, it is impossible to overlook the possibility that Dean Epps' Harvard Negotiation Project will likewise result in a lukewarm success at best. In our opinion, bringing in a private consulting firm from the outside to deal with problems what directly concern us illustrates inefficiency and a lack of consideration for students. In order to better Harvard's race relations atmosphere, we must promote improvements which begin from a grass-roots level. It must begin from the students.

Additionally, there are other specific incidents which serve to exemplify our concern that Dean Epps has not been satisfactorily fulfilling his position as Dean of Race Relations. The first one involves what has been notoriously termed the "Junior Parents' Weekend Incident." Dean Epps did not express any show of support for AAA's protest of the omission of any Asian American representation upon the three panel discussions, nor did he ever acknowledge the wrong and offer an apology. Secondly, when AAA (along with Harvard Foundations, E4A, and the Office for the Arts) invited Lane Nishikawa--a prominent Japanese American actor/writer/director--to perform at Harvard, Dean Epps deeply offended Nishikawa with a racially insensitive remark.

Lastly, Dean Epps has consistently offended Asian American students by randomly greeting them in Japanese, Chinese, etc. In fact, he was even so insensitive as to address one Filipino student in Spanish. Other students have also approached us to communicate similar incidents in which Dean Epps has demonstrated a general want of awareness and sensitivity toward ethnic issues.

Therefore, on behalf of AAA and perhaps the general student population, we are approaching the administration in the hopes that our concerns will be addressed. We are requesting that discussion take place in a meeting in the fall with administrators, Dean Epps and representatives from AAA. Otherwise, we feel that it would be an embarrassment to Harvard students and administrators alike for the management of race relations to continue as they have. Joan Cheng '95   Haewon Hwang '95   Co-Presidents   Asian American Association