Maya E. Frommer ‰7 might have been an anomaly at Chinese Student Association meetings two years ago, when she was an officer of the group.
For one thing, she not Chinese.
⁉ completely Caucasian, †said Frommer, a government concentrator from Chicago.
Frommer might have stood out at the group meetings, but on Harvard campus, she epitomizes a trend⁵ndergraduates who are crossing traditional ethnic lines in their extracurricular choices.
Joseph A. Pace ‰6, a social studies concentrator from Dallas, is the former vice president of the Society of Arab Students. But, Pace said, ⁉ actually Jewish. I don⁴ have a drop of Arab in me.
The Chinese Student Association and the Society of Arab Students mark just two in a series of campus ethnic groups attempting to escape their homogenous image by opening their doorsnd sometimes their officer boards⁴o members from other ethnicities.
⁃OLOR BLIND STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
In an opinion piece in The Crimson last spring that raised an uproar on campus, Jason L. Lurie ‰5 charged that ethnic groups and the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations xacerbate the already intractable problem of self-segregation.
Lurie criticized ethnic organizations for oncentrating on what superficially separates usike skin color or where our ancestors came from. †He called for a ⁃olor Blind Students Association †to take their place.
The Harvard Foundation was formed in 1981 by University administrators who wanted to mprove relations among racial and ethnic groups, †according to the foundation website.
A quarter-century later, some of the ethnic mixing at Harvard is occurring within ethnic organizations themselves.
For example, the current membership of Native Americans at Harvard College (NAHC) actually looks a lot like the Color Blind Students Association that Lurie called for.
The Native American group counts three board members with no American Indian ancestry.
Students who choose to join organizations based on ethnicities other than their own do so for a variety of reasons. ⁉ really interested in Asian culture, †said Frommer, who is currently traveling in Japan and is preparing to write a senior thesis on health care in that country.
Pace said that it was his political views that led to his involvement in the Society of Arab Students.
As he read about the Middle Eastern conflict, Pace said, he ecame more sympathetic to the Arab point of view.
⁓o when I got to Harvard, largely because of my politics, largely because I was a non-Zionist Jew, †Pace said, the Arab students organization ort of took me under their wing, in a manner of speaking.
Merritt R. Baer ‰6, a social studies concentrator from Denver who is the alumni coordinator of Native Americans at Harvard College, said, ⁍y little brother is of the Oglala Lakota, and we adopted him as a foster child, so that sort of the basis of my involvement in the Native American community.
She said that the campus group seeks to incorporate indigenous peoples†perspectives into courses that often omit mention of Native Americans. ⁉ think that important, not just for Indian people but also for people that are not Indian, †Baer said.
⁔HE LARGER PICTURE
Data on student groups at Harvard suggests that, indeed, more and more students such as Baer place importance on ethnic organizations.
In 1969-1970, just five of the 67 registered student organizations on campusbout seven percent⁷ere ethnic or cultural groups.
By 2003-2004, the most recent year for which full data was available, the College counted 52 undergraduate ethnic and cultural organizations‱9 percent of the total number of registered student groups.
And increasingly, according to one longtime observer, these groups are bridging ethnic boundaries.
⁉ see more of an effort of students of all backgrounds at Harvard to reach out across racial and ethnic lines and to embrace people of different backgrounds, †said the Harvard Foundation director, S. Allen Counter, who has worked with cultural groups on campus for the past 25 years.
The growth in the sheer number of ethnic organizations on campus does raise some concerns from administrators.
In an interview this month, Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd said, ⁗hen more and more groups are formed around smaller interests, people are less likely to see the larger picture.
⁏n the other hand, †Kidd said, o one wants to disagree with the notion that students want to associate with whom they want to associate with.
But leaders of campus ethnic groups rejected the notion that their organizations have a self-segregating tendency.
⁉ think with any ethnic organization, people might say that the reason they exist is to be self-segregating, but I think that a narrow view, †said former Fuerza Latina president Diana C. Montoya-Fontalvo ‰7. ⁏ur membership isn⁴ only completely Latino. We have a good number of prominent members who don⁴ have a Latino connection at all, except an interest, †she said.
RAINBOW COALITIONS
The growing number of ethnic organizations on campus increases the opportunities to form cross-ethnic coalitions among student groups.
⁅thnic organizations, ours especially, really do work a lot with other ethnic organizations, †said the former Society of Arab Students president, Rami R. Sarafa ‰7. As an example, he cited an Earthquake Relief Banquet held in the aftermath of the Oct. 8 quake that devastated parts of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The banquet was co-sponsored by the South Asian Association, the Harvard Islamic Society, Fuerza Latina, the Society of Arab Students, NAHC, and the African Students Association, among others.
Ethnic organizations themselves often function as coalitions of students from one part of the world or one racial background whoespite that common bondxhibit divergent cultural identities.
For instance, the South Asian Association area of focus includes over 1.3 million people and dozens of languages.
The group co-president, Arjun Vasan ‰7, said that South Asian students used to be members of an even broader cross-ethnic coalition of Asians.
But in 1986, South Asian students moved to hoot off †from the pan-Asian group and concentrate on a narrower geographic base, Vasan said.
⁓outh Asia, it a very complex region of the world, and I think lumping it with the rest of Asia just doesn⁴ give it justice in that sense, †Vasan said.
Nonetheless, the group constitution still specifically mentions eight different countriesrom Sri Lanka to Pakistann its area of focus.
⁙OU DON⁔ LOOK CHINESE?
The president of the Black Students Association (BSA), Nneka C. Eze ‰7, pointed out that the 300 members of her group span not just several countriesut entire continents.
⁗hether they are from Africa, from the Caribbean, second generation, 10th, 20th generation...there is such variation within the students in BSA, †she said.
And nearly 20 members of the BSA identify as white, according to the group former president, Lawrence E. Adjah ‰6.
As leader of the BSA for a year starting in the spring of 2004, Adjah made no effort to count the number of whites within its ranks or to identify them specifically. ⁅verybody was equal, †he said.
But even when campus organizations don⁴ single out members who are transcending ethnic barriers, these students do sometimes stick out.
⁐eople would ask me, ⁏h are you Chinese? You don⁴ look Chinese,”†said Frommer.
She added, though, that she felt her presence contributed to the Chinese Student Association mission.
⁉ think the point of the organization is not only to gather people together that are of the same background, but to educate [other] people about the culture, †she said.
⁔he next story of the series will consider the complexity of interracial dating at Harvard.
⁓taff writer Laura A. Moore can be reached at lamoore@fas.harvard.edu.
