Harvard NAACP Elects Officers

About 20 members of the Harvard chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) gathered Wednesday evening to elect their new leadership for this year.

Held in the Stinsod Room of the Littauer Center, the election results reflected the diversity and continuing change in the two-year-old group.

The new executive committee consists of students from several different schools at Harvard:

President C. Douglas Hollis attends the Divinity School; Vice President Chioma J. Duru '04, Secretary Sachin M. Shivaram '03 and Treasurer Loren E. Heinold '03 are all enrolled at the College; Mindy Leon, chair of the political action committee, is a student at the Kennedy School of Government; and Kimberly Rogers of the Graduate School of Education is chair of the education committee.

"We want to be representative of all Harvard, not just a single grad school," Duru said.

The new leadership transcends the traditional view of the NAACP as an "all-black organization," according to Shivaram. With two blacks, two whites and one Indian, the officers "represent the changing face of the NAACP."

Duru and Shivaram both said the board hopes its inclusive nature will attract new members to the young group.

Although the chapter has been in existence for merely two years, Duru said it hopes to support the efforts of its parent organization against injustice and discrimination.

One way the chapter brought attention to social issues was by participating in Harvard's recently concluded voter registration drive.

Shivaram said the new board will develop with definitive goals for the year at a retreat next week.

According to Duru, there is a need for continued attention to racial issues in the local area.

"Injustices still happen," Duru said. "And we will always be involved in these civil rights cases."