Integration Still Faces Hurdles

Photographs of bright-eyed students of all races sitting together are as much a staple of Harvard admissions brochures as the red bricks and green grass of the Yard. But a snapshot of a typical meal in a dining hall or a Saturday night party can make social life at Harvard seem far more monochrome.

Harvard’s upperclassman Houses exhibited patterns of de facto segregation until 1996, when the College began to randomize housing assignments. But even though College housing is fully integrated, College life poses a more complex picture.

Some students have punctured ethnic boundaries. The Black Students Association, the Chinese Students Association, Fuerza Latina, and Native Americans of Harvard College all boast memberships that transcend ethnic lines.

But some students say that, when cross-ethnic relationships become romantic rather than just extracurricular, they must break through stereotypes and often endure parental disapproval.

And even as the number of ethnic organizations on campus grows, some students—from a gay Chinese-American to a Hispanic Republican—say that existing groups don’t always provide a comfortable home for all members.

This week, as freshmen receive housing assignments, The Crimson will take a closer look at the ways in which racial and ethnic divides have been transcended in the decade since randomization—and the ways in which they haven’t.

MIXED RECORD

Harvard Yard’s august gates haven’t always been open to entrants of all races and religions.

In the early 1920s, University President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, banned black students from freshman housing and attempted to introduce quotas to reduce Jewish enrollment.

Minority enrollment was miniscule in these years—with schools such as the largely Jewish Brandeis University in nearby Waltham and predominantly African-American Howard University in Washington, D.C. catering to students outside the standard Harvard demographic of those years.

Formal institutions of segregation are disappearing. In fact, over the past 30 years, non-white enrollment at Harvard College has doubled.

And many students acknowledge the University’s more recent efforts to increase diversity on campus.

“The admissions people have done a great job of making way for diverse groups applying, coming up with fantastic financial aid plans, really opening its doors,” says Tabitha “Shiru” W. Macharia ’08.

But while the University has made efforts to remove many of its barriers to people of different races, students have nonetheless demonstrated their own forms of segregation.

DIVERSITY OR INTEGRATION

Before randomization a decade ago, the undergraduate Houses were clearly divided along racial and ethnic lines.

According to a study published in 1996, black students had settled in the Quad, and Asian students were concentrated in Quincy. Eliot, Kirkland, and Winthrop were known as the “White Triangle.” But in fact, Mather held the highest percentage of white students, following a spate of racist graffiti there in the 1990s.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett ’57 introduced randomization in 1996 to decrease the homogeneity of some of the Houses.

Yet while individual Houses no longer have particular reputations, the formation of blocking groups can still allow some self-segregation.

“There’s a natural tendency for people to hang out with people like them,” says Anna H. Yu ’06, adding that this is not confined to race. “Econ people talk to econ people, bio people talk to bio people...I don’t think it’s a problem.”

Macharia says that, in coming to Harvard from Botswana, her group of friends became less heterogeneous.

“I would say that my closest group of friends here are black,” says Macharia, who was born in Kenya before moving to Botswana. “At home,” she says, “I actually had a more diverse group of friends than here.”

Joseph T. Murt ’08, who is white, has had a very different experience.

“I come into contact with people of different races every day,” he says, adding that many of his friends—and three of his blockmates—are black.

And most obviously, ethnic and racial groups that attract people of particular backgrounds are not the only social groups for students.

“There are cultural and racial interest groups, and then there are activity interest groups—music, theater, sports—which I think mixes it back together again,” says Emma C. M. Moore ’07, a violinist who says she has a diverse social circle.

REFLECTIONS ON RACE

For some, the admissions promotional photographs reflect reality: a fully integrated student body.

Murt says he does not think Harvard is a segregated place.

“I just don’t really see it,” he says, adding that playing on the football team has introduced him to people of different races.

For others, however, Harvard’s diverse student body belies their experience here.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if people do have problems with the atmosphere,” says Macharia.

For some, campus ethnic organizations provide a path to learn about cultures other than their own. But others see these groups as contributing to the fragmentation of the student body. Tomorrow’s installment of “Reflections on Race” explores the central and sometimes-controversial roles that ethnic organizations play on campus.

—Staff writer John R. Macartney can be reached at jmacartn@fas.harvard.edu.