Students Plan Ethnic Studies Teach-In Event

In an event which may signal an increase in public campus activism on the issue, the Ethnic Studies Action Committee (ESAC) will sponsor an open teach-in next Wednesday night to inform students about ethnic studies.

The event was announced at a sparsely-attended open meeting last night in Emerson Hall 105.

ECAC, which recently changed its name from Students for Diversity in Ethnic Studies (STUDIES), is this year planning to go beyond the "quiet activism" of groups such as the Academic Affairs Committee of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

"It's because I've spent so much time working through the appropriate channels, I feel that a different approach may work better," said ESAC founder Hyewon Chong '95 in an interview Monday. "ESAC might be more willing to look at different alternatives."

At Wednesday's event, three speakers will give small presentations on topics relating to ethnic studies and its influence on their fields. An open discussion will follow the speeches.

Visiting Professor of Folklore and Mythology and Romance Languages and Literature Enrique Lamadrid, from the University of New Mexico, will speak.

Professor Anne A. Cheng, a new junior professor in the English department, and Venecia Moore, a second-year student in the Law school and a graduate of UC Berkeley's ethnic studies degree program, will also talk at the event.

"A lot of people reject ethnic studies without knowing what it is," Chong said Monday. "They can [agree with] or reject it, as long as they are knowledgeable about it."

Specifics about the time and location of the teach-in will be available later this week, said ESAC member Julie C. Suk '97.

Chong said she hopes the teach-in will not be a repeat of the one the ESAC held jointly with the Academic Affairs Committee last year, which she said "devolved into justifying ethnic studies."

The battle for ethnic studies in the curriculum dates back to the 1960s. More recently, students protested for more ethnic studies courses and specialists at a Junior Parents Weekend rally last year.

But while students have had a series of meetings with high-ranking academic officials over the last few years, including Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell, several said they have seen little progress.

"People are pessimistic," Suk said. "We don't get the sense that the faculty is really interested."

Last year, the Faculty Council deferred a proposal to upgrade the current ad hoc committee on ethnic studies to a standing committee three times.

"It was the tiniest, most conservative step they could take, and it failed three times... That left me rather disillusioned," Chong said.

And there is still no concentration in ethnic studies.

"We don't have an Asian-American history course, or a Native-American history course," Chong said.

Even in some areas of ethnic studies where Harvard does have course offerings, students said, there are no permanent courses, only ones taught by visiting professors such as Lamadrid.

"[The visiting scholars program] is in no way sufficient," Suk said. "It's nice to take a class for the semester, but we want to go back to them, and take more advanced classes, study with them for theses."

"Of course everyone would like to see a department like the one at UC Berkeley, but we feel Harvard's not ready for that," Chong said. "At very least, though, we would like to take courses."

Chong said she hopes that someday Harvard will offer courses similar to those in Afro-American Studies, "but applied to Asian Americans, Latinos and Native Americans."

Chong added, though, that she doubts the likelihood of success in getting a stronger ethnic studies program at Harvard in the near future, considering what the administration has done in the past.

"I'm not confident that anything I've worked for in the last four years will remain after I graduate," she said

Specifics about the time and location of the teach-in will be available later this week, said ESAC member Julie C. Suk '97.

Chong said she hopes the teach-in will not be a repeat of the one the ESAC held jointly with the Academic Affairs Committee last year, which she said "devolved into justifying ethnic studies."

The battle for ethnic studies in the curriculum dates back to the 1960s. More recently, students protested for more ethnic studies courses and specialists at a Junior Parents Weekend rally last year.

But while students have had a series of meetings with high-ranking academic officials over the last few years, including Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Dean for Undergraduate Education Lawrence Buell, several said they have seen little progress.

"People are pessimistic," Suk said. "We don't get the sense that the faculty is really interested."

Last year, the Faculty Council deferred a proposal to upgrade the current ad hoc committee on ethnic studies to a standing committee three times.

"It was the tiniest, most conservative step they could take, and it failed three times... That left me rather disillusioned," Chong said.

And there is still no concentration in ethnic studies.

"We don't have an Asian-American history course, or a Native-American history course," Chong said.

Even in some areas of ethnic studies where Harvard does have course offerings, students said, there are no permanent courses, only ones taught by visiting professors such as Lamadrid.

"[The visiting scholars program] is in no way sufficient," Suk said. "It's nice to take a class for the semester, but we want to go back to them, and take more advanced classes, study with them for theses."

"Of course everyone would like to see a department like the one at UC Berkeley, but we feel Harvard's not ready for that," Chong said. "At very least, though, we would like to take courses."

Chong said she hopes that someday Harvard will offer courses similar to those in Afro-American Studies, "but applied to Asian Americans, Latinos and Native Americans."

Chong added, though, that she doubts the likelihood of success in getting a stronger ethnic studies program at Harvard in the near future, considering what the administration has done in the past.

"I'm not confident that anything I've worked for in the last four years will remain after I graduate," she said