Sanchez Advocates Increased Ethnic Studies Focus

Harvard may have a reputation as a first-rate institution, but its efforts in the area of ethnic studies are strikingly deficient said George J. Sanchez '81in a speech given yesterday afternoon in the Lowell House small dining room.

"Harvard prides itself on being an academic leader, but it's not even on the map in this area" said Sanchez, who is the director of the University of Southern California Program in American Studies and Ethnicity.

Following up a Wednesday night forum on the future of ethnic studies at Harvard, the Harvard Foundation sponsored Sanchez's speech in an effort to raise awareness about Harvard's lack of an ethnic studies program.

According to Sanchez, all demographic projections indicate that in 30 to 40 years, the majority of the U.S. population will be made up of people of color, a future he says the Harvard educational system is not addressing.

"For example, there are no Asian-American or Latino-American history courses," he said. "That's a third of the population right there."

He cited Harvard's rapid progress in the field of Afro-American studies as indicative of the school's potential to create reputable new programs in a short amount of time.

And considering the current demographic shift toward increased diversity, Sanchez said there are several practical reasons to study ethnicity.

"If you haven't spent time studying what these groups are and what their history is, in the future you could end up a 40-year-old CEO wondering who the hell are all these people I'm trying to sell stuff to," he said.

Along with business consequences, Sanchez said Harvard's current departments suffer from not recognizing the trend.

"The way that Harvard tends to do race is pretty much black or white," he said. "But that's not even true in Boston anymore. It's not that they're deficient courses, they just don't reflect diversity now."

The lunch event drew an audience of about 15 students wanting to ensure that the push for ethnic studies will continue to grow in strength.

"Students now have lots of visions and ideals about how they would like to learn ethnic studies," said Serre-Yu Wong '00, co-chair of the Student Advisory Committee of the Foundation.

She said the group is looking for a concrete plan of action from the University.

Tri M. Phuong '02, one of two students who served on Wednesday night's ethnic studies panel, said he is committed to the cause of ethnic studies and that all Harvard students should be aware of it.

"Just to be knowledgeable citizens in the twenty-first century, students are going to need to have a knowledge of ethnic studies," he said.

Phuong plans to meet with several different student groups in order to develop a cohesive plan for the future of ethnic studies.

"I want to stress that there's going to be a push again for an ethnic studies concentration or at least the incorporation of more classes," he said. "Ethnic studies is something that's coming back."

Sanchez, who also lobbied for ethnic studies awareness during his years as a Harvard undergraduate, recommended that interested students direct their appeals to specific faculty members and spend their summers contacting other scholars in the field.

Academic research in the area of ethnic studies has made great strides in the past thirty years, Sanchez said, but Harvard just has not been part of the game.

Sam L. Sternin '01, who has been involved in past ethnic studies efforts, said the main problem centers around Harvard's lack of respect for ethnic studies as an academic discipline.

"Harvard intellectually seems closed with regard to ethnic studies," he said. "They see it as just a passing phase. If that's the attitude, then clearly it's going to take a long time to change."

Sanchez said this attitude is causing Harvard to fall farther and farther behind other institutions and the field of ethnic studies is not a temporary fad.

"The same thing was said about studying the United States at the end of the nineteenth century," he said. "At that time there were people at Harvard who said we shouldn't study American literature. Given what's happening everywhere else, [ethnic studies] isn't a passing thing."

Harvard will not be able to ignore the field's significance forever, Sanchez added.

"Student protest might rise and fall, but academic study won't and Harvard will return to this issue over and over again," he said.