Minority Groups May Demonstrate

Minority student leaders gathered last night for an unusual meeting in the basement of Thayer Hall, and a protest during Junior Parents Weekend events appears likely.

During a forum on extracurricular life at last year's Junior Parents Weekend, more than 100 minority students protested the omission of Asian-American students from the weekend's panels on College life.

Members of this year's parents weekend committee have taken several steps that they say were intended to prevent similar dissatisfaction with this year's program on the part of minority leaders.

"When meeting, we were very aware of what happened last year," Livia Santiago-Rosado '95, co-chair of the parents weekend committee, said yesterday.

But members of Raza, a Mexican-American organization, called a meeting last night to discuss the possibility of staging a protest during Junior Parents Weekend, according to two student sources.

More than seven people--including Black Students Association President Alvin L. Bragg '95--attended last night's meeting, which began in the Thayer basement around 9 p.m. and lasted for about an hour.

Bragg is scheduled to be the moderator of the parents weekend panel, "Harvard After Class: Extracurricular Life on Campus," which will be held on Friday at 3 p.m.

There are no Hispanic students on the three student and student-faculty panels. But a student member of the parents weekend committee said Hispanic students will be represented when Santiago-Rosado speaks at Saturday's morning assembly.

Bragg and other participants in the meeting had no comment yesterday on thepossibility of a protest.

Ellen Hatfield Towne, who is directing theweekend, said yesterday that she is pleased withthe "breadth and depth of the weekend."

Towne said panel discussions on social life,extracurricular activities and the core curriculumwill provide diverse perspectives on life at theCollege.

"There's always the possibility that some kindof disruption will occur--this time it seems likethe weather," said Towne, referring to the severesnowstorm watch that is in effect for the Bostonarea today.

Organizers of last year's protest said theirdemonstration was sparked not only by the parentsweekend program but also by deeper grievances heldby minority students with Harvard's faculty andcurricula.

These complaints included the lack of tenuredHispanic professors, the absence of an ethnicstudies department and comments made by KenanProfessor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr.'53, which the group called offensive.

After protesters entered a forum at last year'sparents' weekend, the session turned into aquestion-and-answer period during which parentsasked Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III andothers why the students' concerns had not beenaddressed, Santiago-Rosado said.

Some of the protesters eventually named theirgroup the Coalition for Diversity and began alarge-scale campaign for minority concerns.

That group, which was originally organized bythen-BSA President Zaheer R. Ali '94, met withmany administrators last spring--includingTowne--to discuss their concerns.

Towne called her meetings with the coalitionlast March "constructive."

She said that at the request of coalitionmembers, she made two significant changes in thisyear's parents weekend planning: she made theparents weekend committee's selection process moredemocratic and she publicized the fact thatstudents not serving on the committee couldnominate panelists for the weekend's forums.

Until this year, Towne recruited students forthe committee by calling house offices to get thenames of interested students.

In addition, some interested students wouldcall her to find out if they could serve, Townesaid.

This year, however, Towne said she placedadvertisements for three weeks in housenewsletters in order to find interested students.If more than one man and one woman from a housewished to serve on the parents weekend committee,the house committee and the applicants decidedtogether the fairest way to narrow the pool.

Once formed, the committee tried to make thisweekend's student panelists as representative aspossible of the entire student body, according tocommittee co-coordinator Richard D. Gardner '95.

In fact, Gardner said the committee went so faras to double the size of the extracurricular lifepanel to create more diversity and "alleviate someof the problems [that came up] last year."

Gardner said Towne reminded committee membersof their responsibility to ensure diversity in themembership of the panels.

But Santiago-Rosado said issues of diversitywere not foremost in the minds of committeemembers throughout the planning of the weekend.

Santiago-Rosado said committee members did notchoose panelists on the basis of their race orethnicity. Instead, they recruited students, whohad varied perspectives on College life andparticipated in different types of extracurricularactivities, she said.

Santiago-Rosado said she and the rest of theparents weekend committee also decided not toinclude controversial issues, such as Harvard'snine all-male final clubs, in their paneldiscussions.

"Junior parents weekend should be a happytime," Santiago-Rosado said.

Joan R. Cheng '95, former co-president of theAsian American Association, said this week thatthe Coalition for Diversity which came out of lastyear's Junior Parents Weekend never died.

Leaders of minority student groups get togetherregularly at meetings of the Minority StudentAlliance, Cheng said.

Cheng said it is hard to say how much concreteprogress members of the coalition made lastspring. That is because their demands, such as theformation of an ethnic studies department, willtake a long time to implement.

"In terms of making an impact on campus, wewere successful," Cheng said.

She said the group "[got] the ball rolling" andeffectively publicized minority concerns.

Last year's minority protest was not the firstto occur during a Junior Parents Weekend.

In 1990, students rallied to protest Harvard'shiring practices for minority and women faculty

Ellen Hatfield Towne, who is directing theweekend, said yesterday that she is pleased withthe "breadth and depth of the weekend."

Towne said panel discussions on social life,extracurricular activities and the core curriculumwill provide diverse perspectives on life at theCollege.

"There's always the possibility that some kindof disruption will occur--this time it seems likethe weather," said Towne, referring to the severesnowstorm watch that is in effect for the Bostonarea today.

Organizers of last year's protest said theirdemonstration was sparked not only by the parentsweekend program but also by deeper grievances heldby minority students with Harvard's faculty andcurricula.

These complaints included the lack of tenuredHispanic professors, the absence of an ethnicstudies department and comments made by KenanProfessor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr.'53, which the group called offensive.

After protesters entered a forum at last year'sparents' weekend, the session turned into aquestion-and-answer period during which parentsasked Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III andothers why the students' concerns had not beenaddressed, Santiago-Rosado said.

Some of the protesters eventually named theirgroup the Coalition for Diversity and began alarge-scale campaign for minority concerns.

That group, which was originally organized bythen-BSA President Zaheer R. Ali '94, met withmany administrators last spring--includingTowne--to discuss their concerns.

Towne called her meetings with the coalitionlast March "constructive."

She said that at the request of coalitionmembers, she made two significant changes in thisyear's parents weekend planning: she made theparents weekend committee's selection process moredemocratic and she publicized the fact thatstudents not serving on the committee couldnominate panelists for the weekend's forums.

Until this year, Towne recruited students forthe committee by calling house offices to get thenames of interested students.

In addition, some interested students wouldcall her to find out if they could serve, Townesaid.

This year, however, Towne said she placedadvertisements for three weeks in housenewsletters in order to find interested students.If more than one man and one woman from a housewished to serve on the parents weekend committee,the house committee and the applicants decidedtogether the fairest way to narrow the pool.

Once formed, the committee tried to make thisweekend's student panelists as representative aspossible of the entire student body, according tocommittee co-coordinator Richard D. Gardner '95.

In fact, Gardner said the committee went so faras to double the size of the extracurricular lifepanel to create more diversity and "alleviate someof the problems [that came up] last year."

Gardner said Towne reminded committee membersof their responsibility to ensure diversity in themembership of the panels.

But Santiago-Rosado said issues of diversitywere not foremost in the minds of committeemembers throughout the planning of the weekend.

Santiago-Rosado said committee members did notchoose panelists on the basis of their race orethnicity. Instead, they recruited students, whohad varied perspectives on College life andparticipated in different types of extracurricularactivities, she said.

Santiago-Rosado said she and the rest of theparents weekend committee also decided not toinclude controversial issues, such as Harvard'snine all-male final clubs, in their paneldiscussions.

"Junior parents weekend should be a happytime," Santiago-Rosado said.

Joan R. Cheng '95, former co-president of theAsian American Association, said this week thatthe Coalition for Diversity which came out of lastyear's Junior Parents Weekend never died.

Leaders of minority student groups get togetherregularly at meetings of the Minority StudentAlliance, Cheng said.

Cheng said it is hard to say how much concreteprogress members of the coalition made lastspring. That is because their demands, such as theformation of an ethnic studies department, willtake a long time to implement.

"In terms of making an impact on campus, wewere successful," Cheng said.

She said the group "[got] the ball rolling" andeffectively publicized minority concerns.

Last year's minority protest was not the firstto occur during a Junior Parents Weekend.

In 1990, students rallied to protest Harvard'shiring practices for minority and women faculty