A Recent Tradition of Ethnic Studies Demonstrations

In this day and age, it's hard to start a Harvard tradition.

But for the flock of wide-eyed parents that migrates to the Science Center each March, a protest about Harvard's race and ethnic studies curriculum has become something of a standard greeting.

Although yesterday's demonstration was fairly low-key (please see story, page 1), the annual Junior Parents Weekend protest has previously been a forum for vigorous--and sometimes vitriolic--objection to Harvard's resistance to increased ethnic studies offerings.

Student activists say the tone of this year's protest marks a different stage in the fight for ethnic studies.

"We're channelling our energies into other endeavors which we hope will reach more faculty and more administrators in a more influential way," says Alex H. Cho '96, a member of ESAC. "[Previous protests] have been more heated, but they've marked a different stage, where we had to do that in order to establish campus presence."

Despite consensus that ESAC has indeed caught the attention of administrators, committee members believe that the debate over race and ethnic studies in Harvard's curriculum will continue to mark Junior Parents Weekend for many years to come.

How It All Began

In 1993, a Junior Parents Weekend discussion titled "Expanding the Academic Perspective" turned into a forum for a coalition of minority groups to issue a list of demands on Harvard administrators.

More than 50 students clad in black carried signs and distributed flyers alleging insenitive behavior by Harvard faculty and administration members.

One flyer signed by nine campus organizations called for an "official investigation" into "institutional racism" at the College.

The flyer contained a catalog of complaints, ranging from the dearth of black and Latino professors in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) to allegedly "erroneous and racist" statements on grade inflation by Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53.

The flyer called for Mansfield to apologize for statements linking grade inflation to an increasing number of black students at the College.

It also said that President Neil L. Rudenstine and Dean of the FAS Jeremy R. Knowles must apologize for their "silence in the issue." In subsequent weeks, Mansfield, Rudenstine and Knowles defended themselves against the attacks.

More than a means of bringing attention to ethnic concerns, the flyer also served to solidify and coordinate support among Harvard ethnic organizations. The subsequent formation of the "Coalition of Diversity" included the Asian American Association (AAA), Black Students Association (BSA), Carribean Club, Harvard African Students Association, Japan Society, Korean Students' Association, LaO, Raza and the Society of Arab students.

Beyond the flyer and the protest, the 1993 weekend was marked by additional controversy as Asian students voiced concern over the fact that no Asian-American students were initially asked to speak on any of the three discussion panels scheduled for the weekend. The panels did include campus black, Jewish and Hispanic students.

Although weekend organizers promptly responded by inviting an Asian student to speak at the diversity discussion, members of AAA were angered that such a substantial population at Harvard could be inadvertently omitted.

1994: Another Rally

Heightening the emphasis on the need for more minority professors and ethnic studies classes, about 45 students rallied for administrative action in two separate weekend protests.

"One, two, three, four, minority faculty, we want more!," student protesters chanted outside the Science Center.

Similar to the previous year, protestors chanted, waved signs, passed out flyers and circulated a petition in and outside of the building.

Following the Friday protest, Jennifer Ching '96, then co-president of AAA, told about 450 parents and students seated for a government lecture that the administration had not acted on student concerns about the number of minority profesors.

Unlike the previous year's protest, which was precipitated by the omission of Asian-American students from the panels on College life, participants decided not to criticize the parents' weekend program.

1995: Is Ethnic Studies a Viable Academic Discipline?

A year later, about 40 students once again took to the front of the Science Center to call for Harvard to parallel schools like Columbia, Stanford and Brown in their recognition of the importance of ethnic studies.

Earlier in the year, Knowles had revamped the ad-hoc Committee on Ethnic Studies and convened a subcommittee of the Educational Policy Committee to draft a report on the state of ethnic studies at Harvard.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences, however, rejected the subcommittee's recommendations and refused to promote the subcommittee to the status of standing committee.

Protesters called for courses in Asian-American, Latino-American and Native American studies similar to those already offered in the Afro-American Studies Department.

Today

Currently, students interested in studying ethnic studies at Harvard may consult a 50-page brochure available from the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education.

Of the 90 courses listed in the brochure "Ethnic Studies at Harvard," critics charge that only 25 meet the standards established by Harvard students and programs at other colleges throughout the country.