Survey Reveals Persistent Racial Divisions

Organizing a dialogue on race has been a lot more complicated than President Clinton ever thought.

But perhaps no one has been through more headaches than the students at the Institute of Politics (IOP), who began early this fall trying to plan a year-long set of discussions at Harvard on the subject of race.

"President Clinton called, and we answered," said Massey Tadjedin '99, chair of the committee that organized the project.

The project was planned to center around a massive student poll, which Tadjedin said she hoped would focus the dialogue, and perhaps serve as a model for discussions on other campuses.

But administrators feared that the questions might further divide the cam- pus, and ultimately the Committee on Undergraduate Research Projects (CURP), led by Dean K. Whitla, associate director of admissions, decided not to let the project continue.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said the administration had several concerns about the nature of the survey.

"The first problem is that the IOP is a new entrant into this dialogue," Epps said. "There are parties at Harvard who have been working on this for a very long time, and I think they should have started by learning our experience with surveys."

Ultimately, the students contacted The Crimson, which conducted the poll (See story, page 1). Project co-director William P. Moynahan '99 said that the decision was not a concession.

"I was taken aback and very disappointed that any student group would have to contact any administrator just to survey this campus," said Moynahan, who is also a Crimson editor. "I don't concede the point to this day that either The Crimson or the IOP needs the permission of the administration to conduct a poll of students on race, on grapes, on whatever."

Epps said that there is a distinction to be made between publications and other student groups.

"Surveys conducted by publications are acceptable under freedom of the press," Epps said, explaining that although the distinction is not specifically delineated in the Handbook for Students, in practice student-group surveys need pass through the CURP while publication surveys do not.

The poll was originally organized by students on the IOP's communication committee, a standing committee within the IOP's student group, though one which is closely affiliated with the Institute itself, according to Catherine McLaughlin, the executive director at the IOP.

The IOP was established more than 30 years ago in memory of President John F. Kennedy '40 and is funded by an endowment, which McLaughlin said is coordinated by the University.

"The Student Advisory Committee is a student group at Harvard, and they were the group conducting the poll," thus they are subject to student group regulations, McLaughlin said.

The decision to move the poll to The Crimson was initiated entirely by the students, McLaughlin said.

Moynahan said the decision to shift to The Crimson was supported by the IOP's Senior Advisory Committee, which includes John F. Kennedy Jr., Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.) and renowned historian and Harvard Overseer Doris Kearns Goodwin.

An Inclusive Dialogue?

Tadjedin and Moynahan said that they plan to have sessions to discuss the results of the survey in the spring, but that they want the IOP to be identified as a facilitator, not a leader, of the discussion on race.

"In order to have a legitimate discussion, we can't just have one student group, we need to have all the student groups," said Tadjedin, noting that various student groups were invited to participate in the meetings where the questions were created.

But some students said that those meetings were not well publicized and were only regularly attended by three students who did not affiliate themselves with the IOP. (The Salient and the Independent also sat in on some of the meetings but did not participate.)

Isaac R. Hodes '99, a board member of UNITE, a student social advocacy group, said that a student within UNITE brought concerns to the board that the planned questions were not reflective of the campus as a whole.

"I don't think the IOP is the best group to organize a poll like this, and I don't think a genuine effort was made to make a real outreach," Hodes said.

Several students also expressed concern that only top IOP leaders met with the statistical experts who drafted the final questions. (See related story, this page.)A-9SURVE

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III said the administration had several concerns about the nature of the survey.

"The first problem is that the IOP is a new entrant into this dialogue," Epps said. "There are parties at Harvard who have been working on this for a very long time, and I think they should have started by learning our experience with surveys."

Ultimately, the students contacted The Crimson, which conducted the poll (See story, page 1). Project co-director William P. Moynahan '99 said that the decision was not a concession.

"I was taken aback and very disappointed that any student group would have to contact any administrator just to survey this campus," said Moynahan, who is also a Crimson editor. "I don't concede the point to this day that either The Crimson or the IOP needs the permission of the administration to conduct a poll of students on race, on grapes, on whatever."

Epps said that there is a distinction to be made between publications and other student groups.

"Surveys conducted by publications are acceptable under freedom of the press," Epps said, explaining that although the distinction is not specifically delineated in the Handbook for Students, in practice student-group surveys need pass through the CURP while publication surveys do not.

The poll was originally organized by students on the IOP's communication committee, a standing committee within the IOP's student group, though one which is closely affiliated with the Institute itself, according to Catherine McLaughlin, the executive director at the IOP.

The IOP was established more than 30 years ago in memory of President John F. Kennedy '40 and is funded by an endowment, which McLaughlin said is coordinated by the University.

"The Student Advisory Committee is a student group at Harvard, and they were the group conducting the poll," thus they are subject to student group regulations, McLaughlin said.

The decision to move the poll to The Crimson was initiated entirely by the students, McLaughlin said.

Moynahan said the decision to shift to The Crimson was supported by the IOP's Senior Advisory Committee, which includes John F. Kennedy Jr., Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.) and renowned historian and Harvard Overseer Doris Kearns Goodwin.

An Inclusive Dialogue?

Tadjedin and Moynahan said that they plan to have sessions to discuss the results of the survey in the spring, but that they want the IOP to be identified as a facilitator, not a leader, of the discussion on race.

"In order to have a legitimate discussion, we can't just have one student group, we need to have all the student groups," said Tadjedin, noting that various student groups were invited to participate in the meetings where the questions were created.

But some students said that those meetings were not well publicized and were only regularly attended by three students who did not affiliate themselves with the IOP. (The Salient and the Independent also sat in on some of the meetings but did not participate.)

Isaac R. Hodes '99, a board member of UNITE, a student social advocacy group, said that a student within UNITE brought concerns to the board that the planned questions were not reflective of the campus as a whole.

"I don't think the IOP is the best group to organize a poll like this, and I don't think a genuine effort was made to make a real outreach," Hodes said.

Several students also expressed concern that only top IOP leaders met with the statistical experts who drafted the final questions. (See related story, this page.)A-9SURVE