Beyond Song-and-Dance

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, minister of education in the Palestinian Authority, delivered an impassioned and controversial address on Monday evening before a packed classroom in Sever Hall. Pointing to its settlement policies, she argued that the Israeli government had fostered extremism on both sides. She also blamed the Clinton administration for failing to remain neutral in the faltering peace process.

In the next day's Crimson, Adam J. Levitin '98, was quoted questioning "why the Harvard Foundation sponsored Ms. Ashrawi." A Crimson editor, Levitin was also quoted saying, "She was hardly promoting ethnic understanding."

All political views aside, we feel that what happened on Monday--an event that got students thinking, talking and even arguing about social and political issues in which culture, religion and ethnicity are centrally implicated--is exactly what this campus needs more of.

The Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations was founded in 1981 at a time when the number of minority students was rapidly growing, buoyed by the expansion of equal-opportunity and affirmative-action programs. That year, Harvard President Derek C. Bok created a task force headed by Rev. Peter J. Gomes to examine intercultural relations on campus. On the task force's recommendation, the Foundation was created.

Under the direction of Dr. S. Allen Counter, the Foundation's programs have expanded dramatically. "Cultural Rhythms," the annual student showcase of cultural and artistic performances, has sold out at the Sanders Theatre box office in all recent years. This year's performance, hosted by actress Halle Berry, had more student groups performing than ever before.

The Foundation's Annual Conference for the Advancement of Women and Minorities in the Sciences, held each March, matches area middle- and high-school students with Harvard undergraduate mentors. Each spring, the annual Multicultural Film Festival features cinematic works co-sponsored with various student organizations. ("Burnt by the Sun," sponsored by the Central and Eastern European Club, is being shown tonight at 8 at Currier House.) Speakers ranging from the U.N. Secretary-General to Irish story-tellers have offered unique opportunities for students to interact with personalities they might not otherwise encounter.

Finally, the Foundation's grants process distributes more than $13.000 each semester to student groups for projects that advance the Foundation's mission of fostering cross-cultural understanding and improved interracial relations. Grant allocations are decided by the Foundation's Student Advisory Committee, which is comprised of a student leader from each campus ethnic or cultural group.

We mention the Foundation's many resources because we feel that many students are not aware of the opportunities available to them through the Foundation to shape the discourse on race at Harvard. Based on our conversations and observations in the past four years at Harvard, we feel that students often perceive the Foundation as a limited, and primarily cultural, instrument of the University that puts on "song-and-dance" cultural shows and invites high-profile speakers to campus, but does little to foster day-to-day relations and social interactions between students of different backgrounds.

No doubt these relations and interactions are crucial to fomenting a critical, engaged and honest discussion of race at Harvard. But a crucial component of this effort is advanced by the Foundation's events. Performances like "Cultural Rhythms" bring together hundreds of student performers belonging to groups ranging from the Hellenic Society to Native Americans at Harvard-Radcliffe. Through its Academic Affairs Committee, chaired by Nancy Lin '99, the students of the Foundation have been actively working toward bringing more tenured women and minority scholars to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and obtaining a concentration and more courses in comparative race and ethnic studies. In addition, the Foundation co-sponsored last semester's heated affirmative action debate with distinguished panelists from the Harvard faculty.

Events like the speech by Ashrawi have helped to dispel the perception that the Foundation primarily sponsors "feel-good," "warm-and-fuzzy" events. The Foundation is not here to advance simplistic ideas about the role played by "culture" and "race" in students' identities, but to provoke an active dialogue about what these terms mean and the complex role they play in social and political affairs.

If the Foundation's mission is to be realized, students must become more involved. Although created and funded by the University, the Foundation is governed by the students, and students have continually refashioned and redefined how its goal is to be achieved.

The Foundation is, as its name implies, a foundation for promoting intercultural and race relations. We actively support discussion of alternative ways through which racial understanding at Harvard might be promoted--including the possible creation of a multicultural student center and the implementation of an ethnic studies concentration. Yet such discussion, and the political or activist measures that might be needed to convey the depth of student concern, should be viewed as building on, not replacing, the Foundation's vital role in bringing student groups together. Active participation in cultural and educational activities must accompany political activism if we are to attain a rich, introspective and engaging dialogue on race.

Sarita M. James '98, a computer science concentrator in Lowell House, is the co-chair of the Harvard Foundation's Student Advisory Committee (SAC). Sewell Chan '98, a social studies concentrator in Quincy House and former Crimson executive, is a former member of the SAC and past co-president of the Asian American Association.