Minority Leaders Question Dean's Annual Report

The annual report of the Dean of the College--the only administrative history and evaluation of recent race relations at Harvard--drew praise yesterday from student leaders and administrators for its goals but was also condemned for several of its evaluations and recommendations.

The study does not present any major new proposals for handling race relations, and it reiterates the College's opposition to establishing a Third World Center.

The report focuses on several divisive minority issues Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59.

*calls for an increase in the number of minority senior tutors and advisors, but no separate deans or counselors for minority students.

*states that the controversial Afro-American department has begun to "fulfill" and even "surpass" its original goals.

*argues against establishing a "Third World Center"--an institution labelled by supporters as a tangible marker of the College's concern for minority students.

*supports a 1984 Freshman Week calendar which would include both official and unofficial events of all student groups.

*makes long range recommendations focusing on recruiting more minority faculty and administrators.

Integration

The report emphasizes Harvard supports neither "separatism" nor "assimilation" of minority students, but instead calls for a middle ground of "integration. "The report defines integration as "an absence of barriers to full participation in the college," and "an absence of distinctions imposed by the College between faces or other groups."

Assimilation and separatism tend to obstruct the realization of pluralistic ideals the report states adding that students must be free to choose their social and intellectual affiliations without constraint.

Distinction

Harvard has taken a different position from other institutions that emphasize ethnic affiliations. "Fox said yesterday, adding that the report is intended to stress Harvard's distinction from that attitude.

Fox selected minority issues as the topic of his annual report because of "a lot of misunderstanding over where we've been going in the past decade," he said adding that a major misconception is that Harvard favors assimilation of its minority students.

Criticism

Criticism centered on the report's lack of support for a Third World Center and a dean for minority affairs.

Minority student leaders also challenged the report of the Afro American Studies Department's success.

"I agree with the goals of the report, but would go about doing it differently," said Anthony A. Ball, a member of the Third World Alliance. "We've got to have a Third World Center as a support structure for all students to go and express themselves," he added.

Ari Q Fitzgerald '84, a coordinator of Black student recruiting in the admissions office, criticized the report's evaluation of the Afro-American studies department, saving that while it offer a number of good courses it does not focus enough on African languages and culture.

Fitzgerald added that a dean for minority affair would be better suited to attack problems faced only by minority students.

Separatism

There was also some disagreement with the report's assumptions about separatism.

Because approximately 98 percent of the faculty and 80 percent of the students are not of the majority separatism cannot exist, said Senior Admissions Officer David E. Evans "Where could a person go if he is separatist. It is not even near to being a realistic phenomenon."

He did, however agree with the reports rejection of the need for a dean of minority affairs. "We don't need a Captain for the Colored," he said, adding that the major draw back in recruiting minority student centers on the "small pool of minority students with adequate credentials.