Students Seek Ethnic Studies Courses

Asian-American and Latino students at Harvard are intensifying calls for better representation in the curriculum, saying ethnic studies are undervalued at the University.

Raza, the Mexican-American student organization, and La O, the Puerto Rican student group, sent a letter Monday to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles expressing concern over the dearth of Latino studies and requesting a meeting with him.

The Asian-American Association (AAA) is pushing for more courses on Asian-American subjects and is currently working on drafting a plan of action, which will include petitions, letters and meetings with top administrators.

But Harvard administrators are reluctant to commit and say budget constraints force them to move cautiously.

"The climate of budgetary stringencies will hold things back in a way they might not be held back at another point in time," said Lawrence Buell, associate dean of undergraduate education.

Knowles said he was spoken about ethnic studies with a number of students and student groups but has made no decisions.

"These matters are being raised in a number of different quarters and are certainly under discussion," he said.

A faculty ethnic studies commit- ,tee, headed by Professor of Sociology Aage B.Sorensen, Would study the students' requests,Buell said.

Harvard currently designates enough money forone ethnic studies professorship. Standardpractice, however, is to divide the sum to fundseveral visiting lectureships, said Buell.

In addition to better curriculumrepresentation, the student groups said they wouldlike to see more aggressive recruiting of minorityfaculty.

"I think the University has just tended toignore the Latino community at Harvard," saidLilia Fernandez '95, president of Raza. "Once thestudents are here, the faculty does nothing interms of offering Latino professors tenure ortrying to get classes or a department in Latino orChicano studies."

Although Harvard has a few Latino professors,she said, "they tend to be natives of theircountries, and that's a very differentperspective" from an American Latino.

And while Harvard has some classes on LatinAmerica, she said, there are none this year onLatino people of the U.S.

Connie I. Chang '93, co-president of AAA, saidher organization is making long-term plans, askingfirst for more classes on Asian-American issuesand eventually pushing for an Asian-Americanstudies department. She says she hopes anAsian-American studies concentration will beestablished within two decades.

Leaders of the three minority organizations saythey see a definite demand for courses in ethnicdisciplines, and they are somewhat discouraged bythe lack of such classes.

"It just shows that Harvard isn't reallycommitted to the type of diversity that theypreach to the students that come in," said La OPresident Efrain Cortes Jr. '94. "It is a veryimportant issue to the Latino community atHarvard.

Harvard currently designates enough money forone ethnic studies professorship. Standardpractice, however, is to divide the sum to fundseveral visiting lectureships, said Buell.

In addition to better curriculumrepresentation, the student groups said they wouldlike to see more aggressive recruiting of minorityfaculty.

"I think the University has just tended toignore the Latino community at Harvard," saidLilia Fernandez '95, president of Raza. "Once thestudents are here, the faculty does nothing interms of offering Latino professors tenure ortrying to get classes or a department in Latino orChicano studies."

Although Harvard has a few Latino professors,she said, "they tend to be natives of theircountries, and that's a very differentperspective" from an American Latino.

And while Harvard has some classes on LatinAmerica, she said, there are none this year onLatino people of the U.S.

Connie I. Chang '93, co-president of AAA, saidher organization is making long-term plans, askingfirst for more classes on Asian-American issuesand eventually pushing for an Asian-Americanstudies department. She says she hopes anAsian-American studies concentration will beestablished within two decades.

Leaders of the three minority organizations saythey see a definite demand for courses in ethnicdisciplines, and they are somewhat discouraged bythe lack of such classes.

"It just shows that Harvard isn't reallycommitted to the type of diversity that theypreach to the students that come in," said La OPresident Efrain Cortes Jr. '94. "It is a veryimportant issue to the Latino community atHarvard.