Hardly Self-Segregation

MINORITY students on predominately white college campuses lead a double life, much like minority professors do.

Minority professors are expected to perform non-salaried duties, such as recruiting, counseling and acting as a big sibling to minority students, while competing for tenure. In addition, they also are expected to serve as liasons to the minority community and as spokespersons, regardless of ideology, for their respective minority groups.

In a similar manner, minority students are expected to do more than act just as students. In addition to academic work, they must present themselves at all times as a good example of their ethnic group (i.e., don't flunk out), educate peers about their cultural problems and be politically active in minority as well as non-minority affairs.

A recent editorial in The Crimson criticized minorities and the minority student groups here at Harvard for what the writer suggested is a trend towards self-segregation. The Harvard minority student organizations segregate themselves by being exclusive in their activities, which, by the way, the writer tells us, have become only social events anyway.

Three social events hosted by Asian Americans at Harvard and the assemblage of minorities at the Union's dining tables are cited as proof that minority groups are becoming exclusive.

Make no mistake about it. Minority students at Harvard like to party just as much as other Harvard students. But to say they have been politically inactive this year is irresponsible.

In addition to the never-ending battle for Harvard divestment from South Africa and the push for more minority faculty, minorities organized and hosted three major events just last month: Visions '89, which brought together minorities from about 40 New England-area colleges to discuss minority issues, the AWARE (Actively Working Against Racism and Ethnocentrism) week, and Cultural Rhythms--an event which had the dual purpose of enlightening minorities about each other as well as exposing whites to different aspects of minority cultures.

The writer apparently did not take part in these conferences. He apparently did not know of their existence, either. If he had known, he would not have accused minorities of political inactivity and of using student organizations as an excuse of party.

If the editorial had been merely an attack on the Asian American Association, addressing legitimate problems of the group and explaining how Asian Americans should improve race relations here at Harvard--and in America--then the problem would have been only between the writer and that particular group.

But the editorial writer offended other minority groups when he attempted to project what he perceived to be problems of one group onto all of the minority organizations at Harvard. One must wonder why he wrote that these groups, as a rule, segregate themselves, when he attempts to cite no other examples other than the Asian American Association? Could it be he doesn't know what he's talking about?

ENCOURAGED by their student organizations, minority students at Harvard are purposely excluding themselves, we are told, by sitting together in cliques at dinner tables in the Union--either all Blacks, all Asians or all Chicanos.

I don't know how many times I've heard this complaint, but it has been far too many.

When people notice that a group of minorities are sitting together, they often neglect to mention that there are many more tables with whites seated separately. The all-white tables are "normal", but, for some reason, the all-Black or all-Chicano tables are not.

At a "normal" dining table, there are probably about four or five people seated together. There are about 500 Blacks at Harvard. Pretend for a moment that there is a Black table, with five Blacks seated, at each of the 14 undergraduate dining halls.

That would multiply to 70 Blacks sitting together. Which raises the question: Where are the other 430 Blacks?

The same goes for other minorities. All of them are not seated together. It's just that the ones seated as a group are visible. And what's so threatening about a group of hungry people getting together to eat?