Rudenstine Defends Epps

President Neil L. Rudenstine strongly defended Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III this week against charges of racial insensitivity made by students.

In a letter to administrators and to The Crimson, Joan R. Chen '95 and Haewon Hwang '95, co-presidents to the Asian-American Association, requested a meeting next fall with Epps who was appointed race relations co-ordinator for the College last spring and other administrator to discuss concerns about Epps' performance.

The Complaints about Epps does ranged from his alleged failure to involve students in decision making to his alleged tendency to greet Asian American students in East Asian languages.

Rudenstine said he believes that Epps does an effective job in a difficult environment. "I think Dean Epps really is a person of extraordinary intelligence, lots of experience, "he said. "It seems to me that he tries very hard to be even handed very hard to be thoughtful."

The President also said he had no plans to replace Epps as race relations coordinator.

Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles said he does not yet know all the facts of the matters and declined to comment further on possible reaction to the questions.

But Knowles criticized the AAA's decision to publicize their concerns without speaking to Epps beforehand.

"While I do not know the details of the concerns of the AAA, I believe the right thing to do first is for the members of the AAA to discuss these concerns with Dean Epps," he said.

Rudenstine said that an administrator in Epps position will inevitably run into student disagreement, but he feels that Epps' past performance shows that he can successfully handle undergraduate race relations.

"Anybody in that kind of position is going to have to do things and take positions and stands that some people will disagree with and some people will agree with," he said. "[Epps] takes the long view, cares about these things, [has] worked at them a long time [and] done well and before one jumps too fast, one better measure all that."

He also said he believes that race relations as a whole at Harvard are very good in light of the University's diverse makeup.

Rudenstine said Harvard is trying to achieve "something that very few human societies want to try to do," namely, encourage a wide variety of different kinds of people to live together peacefully.

He also defended Harvard's records on race relations as compared to other institutions.'

"Compared to a lot of other universities or most of the world, I would say it works very well," Rudenstine said. "I think we have a lot of work to do but I think it would be a mistake to think that work is going to be done and everybody will be happy."

Rudenstine said students need to work constantly at race relations as well.

"You have to decided what your expectations are not just my expectations, but your expectations," Rudenstine said. "Not just the administration, but students have to ask themselves honestly how they're managing to cope, because we're not out there coping in the dormitories everyday.

But Knowles criticized the AAA's decision to publicize their concerns without speaking to Epps beforehand.

"While I do not know the details of the concerns of the AAA, I believe the right thing to do first is for the members of the AAA to discuss these concerns with Dean Epps," he said.

Rudenstine said that an administrator in Epps position will inevitably run into student disagreement, but he feels that Epps' past performance shows that he can successfully handle undergraduate race relations.

"Anybody in that kind of position is going to have to do things and take positions and stands that some people will disagree with and some people will agree with," he said. "[Epps] takes the long view, cares about these things, [has] worked at them a long time [and] done well and before one jumps too fast, one better measure all that."

He also said he believes that race relations as a whole at Harvard are very good in light of the University's diverse makeup.

Rudenstine said Harvard is trying to achieve "something that very few human societies want to try to do," namely, encourage a wide variety of different kinds of people to live together peacefully.

He also defended Harvard's records on race relations as compared to other institutions.'

"Compared to a lot of other universities or most of the world, I would say it works very well," Rudenstine said. "I think we have a lot of work to do but I think it would be a mistake to think that work is going to be done and everybody will be happy."

Rudenstine said students need to work constantly at race relations as well.

"You have to decided what your expectations are not just my expectations, but your expectations," Rudenstine said. "Not just the administration, but students have to ask themselves honestly how they're managing to cope, because we're not out there coping in the dormitories everyday.