Faculty, Students Engage in Sanders Dialogue on Race

While last night's panel discussion on "Race@Harvard" failed to offer any real solutions, it initiated a dialogue on race relations which enabled students and faculty to air conflicting views before a packed audience in Sanders Theatre.

Discussion centered around the University's role in encouraging multiculturalism.

"The onus has always been centered on students to reach out to students of different backgrounds," said Sewell Chan, former president of the Asian-American Association (AAA). "Harvard has failed to provide real mediating structures."

"My criticism is of a University whose approach to racial integration is completely laissez-faire, hands off," said Chan, who is also a former Crimson executive.

After the panel, Chan praised the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, which sponsors a variety of speakers and the annual Cultural Rhythms festival, and hosted last semester's affirmative action debate.

But he said the University could do more to critically engage the Harvard community on issues of race. A University-funded multicultural student center, he said, would encourage dialogue among different groups.

While panelist Professor Cornel R. West '74 agreed that Harvard still has much progress to make in promoting integration and diversity on campus, he said in the 28 years that have elapsed since his undergraduate days at Harvard, the University has made huge strides in combatting racism and segregation.

"We were the first class with black folk numbering over 50," West said. "We were wrestling with how we would relate to the so-called mainstream campus."

West said the black students in his class sought to be multi-contextual, associating with "black students where we did not have to wear a mask. But we did not want to be parochial."

West asked the University to continue its progress toward positive race relations by hiring a more diverse faculty.

Several of the panelists said that Harvard has a responsibility to prepare its students to be trustworthy citizens.

"Harvard trains for citizenship," West said. "These are the public discussions that constitute what it is to be in training."

Harvard, as a bastion of learning, must producestudents who can think critically about thecultures surrounding them, said Professor ofGovernment Michael J. Sandel, who also sat on thepanel.

"We don't just want to mirror society as awhole. The University should be a kind ofcounter-culture," Sandel said.

"We want to encourage something more thanintegration because integration does not includepeople taking pride in who they are and where theyare from," he added.

Undergraduate Council President Beth A. Stewart'00, however, questioned the extent to which theUniversity should actively promote integration andinvolve itself in the privacy of students lives.

"Do we want total integration or are we willingto sacrifice that so people have more meaningfulexperiences at Harvard?" she said. "Are thosemutually exclusive?"

Panelists acknowledged the presence of varyingdegrees of segregation in the Harvard community,some viewing it as a negative aspect of campuslife and others finding a certain level of comfortin being with their own ethnic group.

The discussion initially centered on theresults of the survey conducted in December 1997by the Institute of Politics (IOP) and TheCrimson. The survey gave the administration aB-for "its job in promoting a multiculturalenvironment."

"There's a lot of segregation on campus," saidMark A. Price '99, president of the Black Men'sForum and former vice president of the council."It's a very natural thing for people to formgroups with people they have familiarity with."

"I don't think it's a bad thing," he said. "Itcreates a comfortable environment."

But Sandel expressed a different opinion,saying that certain levels of discomfort promotelearning and interaction with different cultures.

"In the dining halls and houses, we want peopleto feel at home," Sandel said.

"In other places we want it to be anuncomfortable place to spur thought," he added.

Price cited the results of the survey to provethat the level of perceived segregation on campusis high.

The statistics communicated a different messageto Professor of Education and Social Structureemeritus Nathan Glazer.

"After looking at the results of the survey,I've been wondering what the necessity of thismeeting is," Glazer said.

The fairly consistent poll responses frompeople of different races indicate high racialequality on campus, according to Glazer. He saidthat in the nation at large blacks and whitesusually respond very differently to surveyquestions, blacks citing racial inequality andwhites denying it.

Throughout the discussion, Dean of StudentsArchie C. Epps III presented the College'sperspective on the state of racial relations onits campus.

He said Harvard seeks to promote racialintegration, diversity on campus andmulticulturalism.

Epps stressed that while diversity is animportant part of College life, Harvard choosesstudents based on their personal merits and not ontheir ethnic or racial background.

"While Harvard is a diverse college we believethat diversity is not an end in itself but a meansto a larger goal," he said

Harvard, as a bastion of learning, must producestudents who can think critically about thecultures surrounding them, said Professor ofGovernment Michael J. Sandel, who also sat on thepanel.

"We don't just want to mirror society as awhole. The University should be a kind ofcounter-culture," Sandel said.

"We want to encourage something more thanintegration because integration does not includepeople taking pride in who they are and where theyare from," he added.

Undergraduate Council President Beth A. Stewart'00, however, questioned the extent to which theUniversity should actively promote integration andinvolve itself in the privacy of students lives.

"Do we want total integration or are we willingto sacrifice that so people have more meaningfulexperiences at Harvard?" she said. "Are thosemutually exclusive?"

Panelists acknowledged the presence of varyingdegrees of segregation in the Harvard community,some viewing it as a negative aspect of campuslife and others finding a certain level of comfortin being with their own ethnic group.

The discussion initially centered on theresults of the survey conducted in December 1997by the Institute of Politics (IOP) and TheCrimson. The survey gave the administration aB-for "its job in promoting a multiculturalenvironment."

"There's a lot of segregation on campus," saidMark A. Price '99, president of the Black Men'sForum and former vice president of the council."It's a very natural thing for people to formgroups with people they have familiarity with."

"I don't think it's a bad thing," he said. "Itcreates a comfortable environment."

But Sandel expressed a different opinion,saying that certain levels of discomfort promotelearning and interaction with different cultures.

"In the dining halls and houses, we want peopleto feel at home," Sandel said.

"In other places we want it to be anuncomfortable place to spur thought," he added.

Price cited the results of the survey to provethat the level of perceived segregation on campusis high.

The statistics communicated a different messageto Professor of Education and Social Structureemeritus Nathan Glazer.

"After looking at the results of the survey,I've been wondering what the necessity of thismeeting is," Glazer said.

The fairly consistent poll responses frompeople of different races indicate high racialequality on campus, according to Glazer. He saidthat in the nation at large blacks and whitesusually respond very differently to surveyquestions, blacks citing racial inequality andwhites denying it.

Throughout the discussion, Dean of StudentsArchie C. Epps III presented the College'sperspective on the state of racial relations onits campus.

He said Harvard seeks to promote racialintegration, diversity on campus andmulticulturalism.

Epps stressed that while diversity is animportant part of College life, Harvard choosesstudents based on their personal merits and not ontheir ethnic or racial background.

"While Harvard is a diverse college we believethat diversity is not an end in itself but a meansto a larger goal," he said