Harvard Foundation Celebrates 25th

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations kicked off its 25th anniversary celebration, hosting an array of student groups on the Science Center lawn yesterday.

Many cultural and ethnic groups, ranging from the Asian American Women’s Association to Harvard Hillel, tabled at the Tent Extravaganza, handing out food and fliers.

The event, held underneath a white tent, attracted a modest crowd, with people coming and going throughout the afternoon. Foundation Director S. Allen Counter also made several appearances, welcoming students. Mariachi Veritas de Harvard closed the three-hour celebration.

The Foundation hopes to provide more financial support to student groups and is in the process of revamping its grant process to facilitate that, said Foundation intern Marisol Pineda-Condre ’08.

The Foundation, which supports various student organizations, now has 60 member groups, up from the 10 it started with at its creation, said Foundation intern and Student Advisory Commitee co-chair Simi Bhat ’08.

The rate of increase of cultural and ethnic groups has been greater than any other sub-type of group, Bhat said.

Teddy L. Styles ’07, a Foundation intern and co-director of last year’s Cultural Rhythms, said that the Foundation will hold similar events throughout the semester and hopes to host a 25th anniversary gala event.

“There are still a lot of students on campus who don’t know what the Harvard Foundation is and what we do, so we are trying to reach those students,” said Styles.

The Foundation was established in 1981 with the goal of improving relations among various racial and ethnic groups within the College community. But opponents of the proposal at the time said that existing institutions could best improve race relations and that such an organization would only aggravate racial tensions.

Bok agreed to the Foundation’s creation, but only under the criteria that it support both minority and majority groups. Counter has served as Director of the Harvard Foundation since its inception.

Counter said yestereday that the Foundation was created to “build a community around people and not structures. We feel that every building at Harvard is a multi-cultural center and belongs to everyone of our student...The Harvard Foundations is in the air at Harvard, not in a building.”