Protestors Are 'Concerned Students, Not Demagogues'

In their March 7th editorial, The Crimson's staff describes the weekend protest on ethnic studies courses and minority faculty hiring as "half-hearted" and as "protest for the sake of protesting." This was manifestly not the case and I hope that by writing in, I can supplant the staff's speculation with facts.

First, we are concerned students, not demagogues. Our demonstration purported not to mobilize mass upheaval but rather to inform. Perhaps The Crimson's staff interpreted this approach--one of educational outreach and rational demonstration--as half-heartedness. Though The Crimson's staff conjectures that participants "haven't done much until now," we are in fact a very committed, well-informed and active core group: many of us have been involved--throughout the past year--in a low-profile activism that seemed most constructive after last year's Junior Parents Weekend protests.

Second, the data in the flyer was painstakingly researched and cited; the official number of zero tenured Black women faculty was taken from the latest Affirmative Action Plan, page 41. Students were only the transmitters of University published data. Perhaps it is Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's status as a Professor of African American Religious History at the Divinity School that precludes the FAS from counting her in its report.

I applaud the vigorous efforts of our Afro-American Studies department in recruitment of senior faculty; yet, I'd like to draw the distinction between progress due to amazing individuals within the Afro-Am department and progress due to a coherent administration policy or effort. Admirable success in a single department does not prove that the system and process of senior faculty hiring--as well as that for administrative positions--is open and equitable.

Anna D. Wilde's article, "Black Professors in the FAS" (Feb. 26, 1993), quotes one African-American women Associate Professor: "Tate concedes that some Harvard departments 'have reputations for not being supportive for minority scholars.' She has no answers to the problem, she says, but it cannot be ignored. 'What I'm critical of is the fact that it's 1993, I don't really see much change, and that's depressing.'" When I tried to confirm her quotation, I discovered that in the Spring 1993-94 Courses of Instruction Supplement, she had been quietly deleted (p.35).

Although I don't know the reasons why she's left our university, I feel a bit dismayed. To cut to the chase, niggling over whether the number of African-American tenured women faculty is zero or one misses the point; the point is, it isn't much and the "old boys network" Ms. Wilde reported on last year is still part of the processes and institutions of senior faculty hiring.

In congratulating our exemplary Afro-Am department, I hope I haven't understand the concerns of many students. Namely, there are zero Mexican-American or Puerto Rican-American senior faculty (a critical distinction to make here, as well as for Asian-American tenured professors, is that between ethnic American scholars and elite foreign scholars), zero Native American senior faculty and a gaping hole in our curriculum with regard to permanent ethnic studies courses.

Last, the demonstration wasn't an attempt to transform a wonderfully planned Junior Parents Weekend into a debate "forum" about having more courses or professor role models, nor was it simply an opportunity for us to strut about with signs.

Rather, the weekend demonstration was an organized effort at raising awareness among people who--as concerned parents--might otherwise be oblivious to the fact that ethnic studies courses and minority faculty hiring remain serious, and whole-hearted, student concerns. Hyewon Chong '95