Nevertheless, the space issue is still not a priority for the Foundation, according to Bossert, who says the problem is not exclusively a minority student one, but college-wide. Gomes agrees with Bossert and cites the "benign neglect" of three past Afro-American centers at Harvard. But the idea for a center is still "viable," Gomes says.

"If Lowell Lecture Hall was offered to the Harvard Foundation with money, I think we'd be foolish not to take it," says Gomes, adding that he might rejoin the Foundation if it acquired such a facility. Nevertheless, "the lack of readily available space does not seem to have inhibited the vitality of minority life," says Gomes, who chaired the committee that created the Foundation in January 1981.

But many students interviewed disagree, some vehemently, and say there is an urgent need for a centrally-located facility for minority students to meet, socialize and display their cultural heritage.

Some students say that need is highlighted by the virtual breakup last year of the Third World Student Alliance (TWSA), a loosely formed umbrella group of Harvard's largest minority groups. The breakup was precipitated by internal disagreement about a TWSA report published last semester.

And students inevitably point to Third World centers, or similar facilities, which exist at many universities, including five Ivy League schools. Last week, Brown University inaugurated a new Third World center, moving it from a basement to an entire building.

"There really is no way for Third World students groups on campus to get together to pursue common themes and let the rest of Harvard know what the minority community is about," says Richard Zayas '88, treasuer of the Puerto Rican student group La O.

"Harvard makes it all but inevitable for us to confine our activities to Black students," says the BSA's Braxton. To reach the entire Harvard community during Black History month, the BSA currently puts displays in the basement of Lamont Library, according to Braxton. "You pass Alex Haley and Malcom X on the way to the bathroom," says Braxton, adding that the alternative--putting displays in each of the houses--is impractical.

The absence of a Third World Center at Harvard may explain why many Blacks cluster together for meals, according to BSA member Leah Johnson '87. "There are a lot of Jewish students in my house, but they don't all sit together at meals. They know they have one place to go for fellowship," says Johnson, referring to Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel, which she likens to a Third World Center.

"I think most organizations have given up on Harvard and have turned to their own members and alumni for support of a center...similar to a Hillel situation," says Braxton. But Zayas says the minority alumni base at Harvard is relatively small and young, which diminishes the prospects for a privately funded minority center.

"I don't think we as students can carry the burden for initiating and carrying through projects," Zayas says.

Currently, the Foundation awards grants to students and groups every semester, despite the Eck report's recommendation that the Foundation consider "development grants" which foster "long range planning." And both Bossert and Gomes say the Foundation has no intention of funding projects on an ongoing basis.

Although some organizations repeatedly apply for and receive grants from the Foundation, minority group leaders fault the Foundation for not funding longer-term projects and say their organizations face an uncertain financial status each semester.

"You can't hope to achieve good intercultural relations by short term projects. You change attitudes over the long run," says Zayas, who further criticizes the Foundation's inadequate facilities and staffing.

Part-Time Race Relations

The absence of a full-time director at the Foundation implies that at Harvard, race relations is a "part-time job," says Zayas, who describes the Foundation's office in University Hall as "a walk-in closet, three feet wide by 20 feet long."