Push for Ethnic Studies at Harvard Continues

The decades-long push for an ethnic studies program at Harvard made slow progress in 2021, as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences authorized the appointment of three faculty candidates specializing in the field.

The hiring search for ​​senior faculty to specialize in Latinx, Asian American, and Muslim studies — initially announced by FAS Dean Claudine Gay in June 2019 — was delayed signifigantly by Covid-19.

The authorization of potential senior candidates represents a key step in the FAS’s promise to hire a cluster of scholars in the field. The move comes following years of students and alumni activism for the creation of a formal ethnic studies program. At present, there is no ethnic studies concentration at Harvard.

Additionally, the FAS announced in September that 10 Asian American alumni gifted over $45 million to expand the FAS’s Asian American studies program. Jeannie Park ’83, president of the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance, wrote in September that the group hoped the donation would help "persuade scholars of Harvard’s commitment to building a serious Ethnic Studies program.”

—Justin Lee, Crimson Staff Writer