Latin American And Latino Events Deserve Greater Coverage

To the editors:

I am writing from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) to express my disappointment at the lack of coverage of important Latin American and Latino events that were held on campus this past weekend, some of which I personally attended and was very impressed by. These events include, but are not limited to, the Presencia Latina Cultural Show, the Latin American Law Conference at the Law School, the Latino Studies Research Symposium at the DRCLAS and relevant panels at the International Development Conference at the Kennedy School. Primarily, the Presencia Latina cultural show included performances from more than a dozen student organizations. The show was extremely well-organized and well-publicized, and many students attended, along with DRCLAS staff members, two Harvard Deans, and many professors, including Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Director Jorge I. Dominguez and Ira Jewell Williams, Jr. Professor of Romance Languages and Literature Doris Sommer.

As DRCLAS provided sponsorship to this and other events that took place this weekend as part of Latino Appreciation Month (April), we are disappointed that press coverage for these events was overlooked. We hope that in the future you provide due coverage to Latin American events at Harvard. There are over 30 student organizations throughout the University with a regional focus of Latin America or thematic focus of Latinos. In addition, DRCLAS boasts the largest Internship Placement and Internship Grant program on campus, for students travelling to summer internships in Latin America. University President Lawrence H. Summers has just returned from a trip to Latin America during which he visited Sao Paulo, Brazil, site of a DRCLAS exchange program, and also Santiago, Chile, site of the DRCLAS Regional Office, the only university-wide regional office at Harvard. This should give you an idea of the importance of Latin America for the Harvard community. I hope to see more extensive coverage in the future.

ERIN E. GOODMAN

April 21, 2004

The writer is student services coordinator for DRCLAS.