Campaign Begins New Ethnic Studies Push

The Campaign for Ethnic Studies at Harvard campaign held its first events of the semester this weekend, with a new, neon-ribbon visibility and a renewed sense of dedication to the cause.

The campaign passed out 600 green ribbons to audience members at Cultural Rhythms on Saturday, according to Tin-Ming L. Hsu '00. Most performers also wore neon green tape around their arms in support of Ethnic Studies.

Hsu and other campaign members also distributed a petition supporting the Ethnic Studies Campaign as an "instrument of education and awareness." By the end of the day, Matt Damon and about 200 students had signed it.

"We want to resurrect a drive on campus for ethnic studies," stated Tri M. Phuong '02. Phuong, Hsu, and Peggy T. Lim '00 are the three co-facilitators of the Campaign for Ethnic Studies.

The leaders said they want to maintain a connection to the past. As a result, they chose to continue using green as their color, just as previous drives for ethnic studies did, Hsu said. It is crucial that people "could see this [current campaign] as a continuous movement," she said.

The campaign's first planning meeting was held in Loker Commons yesterday.

Sixteen members attended the meeting, which the group hopes to follow up with smaller group meeting every week and large biweekly meetings.

Continuing the effort is important, Phuong says, because "American Identity will be hinged upon ethnicity."

Campaign members argue that Harvard does not offer any cohesive degree program dedicated to the study of ethnic culture in America. Harvard has formed an ad hoc Committee on Ethnic Studies, but group members see it as insufficient.

Phuong said although the group has not yet written its mission statement, the group plans to form a longer term strategy than previous ethnic studies drives.

Robert C. Chavez, a student at the Harvard Divinity School who attended last night's meeting, proposed that the campaign strive to involve a "coalition of interests," including student groups representing a variety of ethnicities.

And instead of directly pressuring the administration, Lim suggested that "what we do first is really work on dialogue."

"For outreach, its not just students," Lim said. "Faculty are very important."

Chanda K. Ho '01, who was active in the ethnic studies movement during her first year at Harvard, said she believes the group will have to struggle to generate enthusiasm for the movement among students.

"I don't think that there was any interest from the students," she said. For the new campaign to succeed, Ho predicted that "[resistance] is going to come from the student body."

Other universities across the country--including Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley--offer comparable degrees to the proposed ethnic studies program at Harvard.