Barbara Miles, a biochemist major in ISSP, also said, "There are some girls who will talk to me inside the dorm, but when we go outside, the dorm, but when we go outside, they won't walk next to me, but behind me.

For some, such as Wayne Peeler, from Pittsburgh, the question of subtle racism at Harvard is, "null..It's like asking, 'Does the weather exist?' It's a matter of degree, sometimes it's stormy, sometimes it's mild, but you know it's there."

Mike Powell, a junior at Atlanta's Morehouse College, observed, "I's an atmosphere. Racism is very difficult to pinpoint. There is often a very thin line between discrimination and lack of intimacy. You can't draw a line and say, 'on this side is discrimination and on that side is unfamiliarity."

Powell added, however, "White people will let you know that they'll make concessions simply because they're aware that you go to Harvard. This in itself shows that they don't respect you for being a man, but for the little bit of education you have. The general attitude of the white people on this campus seems to be 'We don't respect you as a man; but your education has brought you a little respect.'"

On Display

Some of the sensitivity of the black students is probably related to their feeling of being on display. Summer School Director Crooks said, "What we try to avoid, but what we can't avoid is the feeling that they've been brought to this grand' institution to be looked at."

George Curry to some degree confirms Crooks' observation. "People look at you like you are some kind of specimen. You go in with the idea that you have to prove that you're as good as they are, or with the aim of getting--quote--accepted--unquote."

In addition to a certain amount of racism, some whites retain other old attitudes towards the blacks. For example, some summer school women apparently accept certain ideas about the sexuality of black men. "White girls seem to be fascinated by black men. It is very evident here," said Barbara Miles.

Frank Sessoms said, "These babes, the white girls on campus, like black men, but don't want white men to know it." It is, of course, entirely possible that the white women are fascinated by black men because of reasons unrelated to the belief in black sexual superiority.

In addition to racism and misconceptions, many whites are simply ignorant. "There is a significant minority of white students who have a real grasp of what's going on and understand the problem (of the black man)," said Wayne Peeler, "but the great majority of white students are just liberal thinking or liberal feeling people who want to show their liberalism by being friendly with a Negro."

Stereotypes

A student who will enter law school next fall, added, "I have met many whites who confess ignorance of some of the contemporary black thought even down to using such trite expressions as 'some of my best friends are Negro. They're often in the position of starting off conversations with such corny, ill-phrased, and nonsensical conversation pieces as Will Mays, or Jim Brown, or James Brown or any other things they can associate with black people. Many can only go on stereotypes, scenes they remember from Sidney Portier pictures, and the like."

According to Sessoms, "The white people are two-faced. There are a lot of phonies. Students I have met put on false airs..they front. Some of the girls smile at you, they're friendly, but if you ask for a date, they go through all sorts of changes." Added George Curry, "Everybody's a liberal these days."

Even at Harvard, then race relations are, rather graceless. To improve the situation, whites must start talking to blacks, and not about the black man, but about the white man.