On Ethnic Studies: Keep Up the Fight

Last Saturday at the annual Cultural Rhythms Festival, the actor Halle Berry joined hundreds of students wearing green armbands in support of ethnic studies. The bands, distributed by the Ethnic Studies Action Committee (ESAC), were intended to communicate to the administration the broad base of support among students for ethnic studies and to keep the issue visible on campus.

We applaud the ESAC for their efforts and all those who participated in this important symbolic expression. Hopefully, this symbolic act will soon be followed by concrete progress.

Ethnic studies is defined as the interdisciplinary, comparative study of the cultures of American ethnic minorities as they interact with each other and the larger American culture. There are hundreds of ethnic studies programs at universities all over the country, most of which were built only through the sustained pressure of student activism.

But for years, Harvard has remained stubbornly resistant to the demands of the sizable number of its students seeking an ethnic studies program, making only begrudging, minor concessions.

The time is long overdue for the administration to take more significant steps on ethnic studies. Currently, Harvard has a standing Committee on Ethnic Studies, which has neither curricular responsibilities nor the power to confer degrees. Its main purpose is to bring visiting professors to campus with expertise in ethnic studies.

Whatever the ultimate place of ethnic studies on campus, whether as an independent program like social studies or, less likely, a full-fledged department, it is clear that the current situation is unsatisfactory. In addition to the important but impermanent presence of visiting ethnic studies professors, the College's established departments must offer more regular courses that address the experience of this country's ethnic minorities.

Ethnic studies is a legitimate area of academic interest, regardless of its ultimate place in the University's infrastructure. This year's show of support at Cultural Rhythms was a positive sign that perhaps the fight will be renewed with even greater vigor. Yet it is important to remember that last year saw the same exhibition of green armbands, and that we have made scant progress since. Our patience may be almost exhausted, but the administration must know that our commitment is not.