Minority Group Plans Weekend Demonstration

Minority students plan to stage a protest during Junior Parents' Weekend, according to a source close to the protest's organizers.

The protest would make this the third Junior Parents' Weekend since 1990 at which students have rallied for minority concerns.

The source said that unlike last year's protest, which was precipitated by the omission of Asian-American students from the panels on College life, participants in this year's demonstration will not criticize the parents' weekend program.

But she declined to comment on the reasons behind the demonstration.

Richard D. Gardner '95, co-coordinator of the parents' weekend committee, said he was "rather displeased" that the students chose the occasion to demonstrate because it is "not the correct forum" to air their grievances.

"They know they'll have an audience," he said. "I just wish they could separate [their protest from the weekend]. It takes away from an event that a lot of time has gone into planning."

Director of the Parents Association Ellen Hatfield Towne, who organized the weekend, says she is "not entirely surprised" that a protest has been planned.

More than seven minority leaders, including Black Students Association President Alvin L. Bragg '95, attended an organizational meeting last night in the basement of Thaver Hall.

Bragg and other participants in the meeting declined to comment on the rally.

Organizers of last year's protest said their demonstration was provoked both by dissatisfaction with parents' weekend and criticisms of Harvard: the dearth of tenured Hispanic professors, the absence of an ethnic studies department and statements made by Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53 that the group called insensitive.

In 1990, students mobilized to protest Harvard's hiring practices for minority and women faculty.

Towne said she has not made special plans for dealing with this year's protest.

"I guess at this point we're standing by trying to get the details confirmed," she said.

"The only unfortunate [aspect] of the timing [of the protest] is that the student committee has been working so hard....It would be unfortunate if the focus of the events was lost. [But] these things can coexist peacefully," she said.

It is unclear whether the protest planned for this weekend will evolve into the type of semester-long protest pursued a year ago.

Last year, protesters named themselves the Coalition for Diversity and became a force on campus for much of the spring semester.

The coalition met with several administrators, including President Neil L. Rudenstine, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Towne.