Umbrella Minority Students Alliance Unable to Build Ethnic Solidarity

As Harvard College's population begins to look more and more like the rest of America-currently 41 percent of students identify themselves as racial minorities-relations among minorities are becoming even more important.

For the most part, Harvard's minority student groups have chosen to be largely self-directed organizations, often leaving the Minority Students Alliance (MSA)--an umbrella group founded to bridge the gaps between groups--with few members and little role on campus.

"Multicultural dialogue is not being furthered as much as it can be," says Michael M. Espiritu '01, one of the few returning MSA members. "And it's because we have difficulty bringing groups together."

In the late 1980s, a handful of student leaders from the Asian American Association, Hillel and other minority groups founded MSA as an umbrella minority organization with the goals of "intercultural understanding" and "progressive racial action." The idea was that all minority student groups would participate in MSA events and send a representative to MSA meetings.

The two goals of the fledgling organization were the founding of an ethnic studies department and a multicultural students' center.

A decade later, neither of those goals have been accomplished. Most minority student groups have turned inward for political activism, and some of the leaders of those groups are questioning the effectiveness of the MSA.

"The MSA is completely futile when it comes to pursuing its goals," says Grace Y. Shieh '99, former president of the Asian American Association (AAA). "Therefore, none of the minority groups are going to send representatives to it." Shieh was also Cultural Chair of MSA during the 1996-1997 school year.

At MSA's first meeting of this year, only five people showed up; at its second, attendees numbered nine. Co-Chairs Sujit M. Raman '00 and Ethel B. Branch '01 say they are concerned about the low turnout but remain optimistic.

"Most of the student groups are still organizing themselves and getting things in order," Raman says.

Low turnout or not, MSA is busily planning its first event of the year, a follow-up to last year's hugely successful affirmative action debate, which drew 1,500 students. So far, Professor Nathan Glazer has been confirmed for the event, scheduled for this Thursday.

The way Raman sees it, the MSA is currently "in the midst of a comeback" that began last year, following several years of decline. He says that the MSA plans to sponsor more events this year, seeking to create for itself a larger campus presence.

But, as early attendance numbers show, it may be too late for MSA to consolidate a growing number of minority groups.

"The fierce independence felt among most student groups make umbrella organizations difficult to sustain unless they offer members concrete benefits and advantages that couldn't be had elsewhere," says AAA Co-President Jay F. Chen '00, who is also a Crimson executive.

And student leaders say that more and more these benefits are found at the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural Relations, a University-affiliated body that distributes grants and sponsors events such as Cultural Rhythms.

"The Harvard Foundation...is the closest thing on campus we have to an umbrella organization, because it is the main source of funding for basically all ethnic organizations on campus," Chen says.

Most ethnic groups send representatives to Foundation meetings and keep close tabs on Foundation events. Last year, for example, the Black Students' Association (BSA) had a Harvard Foundation representative, but not an MSA representative. This year they also have a MSA representative.

"The Foundation can do a lot of things that a student group can't do," says RAZA President Sergio J. Campos '00. "A lot of RAZA events wouldn't have happened without the resources of the Foundation."

Shieh said the Foundation has power within the administration that is useful to minority groups.

"Groups with money have power with the administration, and the Foundation can provide that to student groups," says Shieh.

The Foundation is primarily a cultural organization, however, which means it does not fulfill what many groups see as an important political need.

"The Foundation is all about multicultural awareness, but it's not as useful for coalition building," says Campos. "That's where we turn to MSA."

Former MSA Chair Jobe G. Danganan '99 says that the political arena is a way that the MSA, lacking the financial resources of the Foundation, can appeal to student groups.

"MSA can build bridges between student groups in a way that the Foundation, as a direct agency of the University, cannot," says Danganan. "The Foundation is limited in its political activism role."

But this year's chairs, Branch and Raman, say that they plan to build on the success of last year's affirmative action debate by facilitating dialogue among groups, while leaving political advocacy to the individual groups.

"We're changing our focus from that of an activist group to that of a facilitator group, because it seems to be the best way to promote racial dialogue," says Raman.

To that end, MSA plans a randomization debate for November and a series of dialogues between racial groups, called "Breaking Cultural Barriers."

BSA Vice President Jason B. Phillips '99, who is also a Crimson editor, says that one way for the MSA to establish itself is to make itself better known on campus.

"It seems like the MSA wants to do a lot of things on its own this year, and that's good," says Phillips. "The campus has got to know who they are in order for them to make an impact."

Branch says MSA will be looking at minority groups for guidance as well.

"We're going to ask them what they want us to address, what issues are bothering them," Branch says. "And in the future, when there's an issue that affects all of us, we'll be here as a device for them."