Providing Perspective

After years of work, the Black Students Association should be commended for publishing the first edition of the Black Guide to Life at Harvard this week. Its comprehensive assemblage of history, student testimony and practical information for black students at Harvard fills a very important gap in the life of hundreds of students here. The guide is a well-designed book that includes a wealth of information unfortunately missing from other sources.

But as welcome as the Black Guide is, its very necessity is a sad commentary on our University. Black Harvard history and black student life at Harvard are, after all, integral parts of University history and life—parts that shouldn’t have to be relegated to their own book. If the generic “Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard” produced by Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) was more inclusive in its listings, it would better serve the needs of Harvard students of all ethnicities.

Wisely, the editors of the Black Guide have chosen to decry Harvard’s racial insularity rather than perpetuating it. The guide’s calls for its black readers to get involved in the “Top 10 Organizations That Need More Black People” was a strong critique on the insularity of some Harvard organizations, where black students are currently not as represented as they should be.

It is important that the informative and beneficial Black Guide to Life at Harvard reach as many students as possible. Its contents are relevant—indeed essential—to everyone who sees himself or herself as a part of the University.

It is within the reach of HSA’s guide and other mainstream publications to update their perspectives and accurately represent our student population; the sooner this happens, the better. Until then, however, the Black Guide will provide a valuable service to the campus. In bringing this marginalized view to the forefront, where it belongs, the Black Guide is working to erase the problem that has necessitated its creation.

The guide is a wonderful and needed addition to the publications at the College. It is unfortunate that much of the history and statistics that the book includes are not more widely known. This part of life at our school, both past and present, has been pushed to the sidelines for far too long.