Need for Ethnic Studies Unproven

The almost annual ritual of discussions, debates and discord over ethnic studies has begun again. Most recently, the Ethnic Studies Action Committee (ESAC) held a panel discussion with proponents for a ethnic studies department.

The group's leader, Hyewon Chong '95, promises a different tack this year. "It's because I've spent so much time working through the appropriate channels, I feel that a different approach may work better." Chong also promised to end the "quiet activism" of years past, an ambiguous statement that could signal several different directions. We have some suggestions from which she might want to pick.

The proposal for an Ethnic Studies department has been in the Harvard pipeline for years; the issue has been a hot one since the 1960s. Currently ethnic studies is stalled--it has been an ad hoc committee for several years, and the faculty has repeatedly deferred any attempts to upgrade its status to a standing committee or department.

We welcome the renewed discussion of the proposal as well as the approach that the panel discussion represented. We hope the next such event will take the logical step of including even those individuals adamantly opposed to the proposal--and the whole concept of ethnic studies. One rational debate would do more to illuminate the issue than any protests.

This type of discussion offers the only hope for jump-starting the stalled process. Ethnic studies is a complex issue, both philosophically and logistically, that is better addressed in a forum for rational discourse than on the picket line.

Fundamentally, ethnic studies lacks a strong constituency at Harvard, and without a convincing campus debate on the topic no such constituency will emerge. To say the least, the faculty and administration have not been swayed by the arguments of supporters. One professor even questioned the whole approach of the ethnic studies discipline, calling it "incoherent."

We also doubt that a majority of students have been convinced. The poor attendance at ESAG's organizational meetings would seem to vindicate this impression. The activism is just not there right now.

Absent widespread student support, the proposals for ethnic studies will likely make little progress. Nor should they, without acknowledging and addressing the concerns of many who are wary of the proposal.

What are these concerns? There remains serious doubts as to whether an Ethnic Studies Department would be beneficial.

Theoretically, the existing departments could well absorb additional classes on ethnic issues without the creation of cantonize the issue and relieve the pressure on current departments to broaden their curricula.

To put it mildly, the students who support ethnic studies have a lot to prove, to both the faculty and to the student body. We hope they continue this move toward debate in plate of open protests to make their case.