The Whys Of A Third World Center

WHEN PRESIDENT BOK formed a committee to investigate the possibility of setting up a Third World center on campus last spring, it amounted to an acknowledgement that minority students have needs here not met by existing services. So far, the committee has interviewed several administrators and compiled preliminary conclusions about the status of Third World students at the University.

It is fitting that the committee, chaired by the Rev. Peter J. Gomes and consisting of five Faculty members and three undergraduates, has looked into some of the deeper philosophical issues surrounding the problems faced by minority students at Harvard. But the committee's primary responsibility is to present a concrete proposal to Bok for a Third World center by January 1. We urge the committee to expedite its deliberations and also hope that Bok will not turn his back on a workable suggestion.

Harvard is a predominantly white institution. In that sense, the everyday lives of minority students here differ from those of the majority. A Third World center would go a long way toward creating a better atmosphere for Third World students. As one student leader said, right now the University environment for Third World students is "not neutral," because they must adapt to a primarily white environment. A center would serve the entire community as a cultural, educational, social and--though some administrators may not approve--a political milieu. And students should have control of the center's governance, with the administration in a supporting role, helping the center overcome whatever obstacles it faces.

There is not a single valid reason why Harvard should not follow the examples of Brown, Yale, Princeton and others and show a full-fledged commitment to a Third World center. Students at these other schools are enthusiastic in their support for the centers, variously describing them as indispensable, crucial, and valuable. Princeton sank $250,000 into its center to build an annex, and its center enjoys a wealth of programs.

Perhaps the University has been reluctant to take action because of the failure during the early '70s of the Afro-American Cultural Center. Established in the wake of student protest, the Afro-Am center foundered and died, because administrators hesitated to make a large-scale financial commitment. When students lost their initial enthusiasm and the center fell on hard times, the incentives for maintaining it were fatally weakened.

Some administrators have opposed a Third World center because, they argue, it would encourage an unhealthy separatism. In fact, however, there are many institutions on campus that serve all sorts of student groups without encouraging isolation. We feel a Third World center would constitute not a separation of Third World students from the rest of the University but a recognition of the value of their presence here. And though other student groups may have managed to create their own centers without University funding, it remains an unfortunate truth that Third World students here, for historical reasons, lack access to the sizeable financial resources a center might demand. The University should fund a center as a sign of its willingness to make Harvard a place where Third World students are welcome.

The strongest argument for a center on a philosophical level is the University's much-stated commitment to diversity. Harvard should be able to come up with a solid proposal for a Third World center to reinforce its pledge to attract and educate Third World students. Aside from the clear practical advantages a Third World facility would provide for student groups now laboring out of cramped quarters in the basement of Memorial Hall, a center would have significant symblolic value as well. The University should feel a responsibility to take a leading role among schools across the nation.

The most recent expression of the University's concern for these issues came in Bok's Commencement speech last June. It is time for Bok to take direct action. A campus Third World center is long overdue.