But Secondine says NAH's position on campus is unique.

"It is one of the smaller ones, and we can be overshadowed," he says. "At the same time, I think proportionally we're doing very well. Native Americans are a very small minority nationwide and campuswide."

The movie Dances With Wolves, Secondine says, probably helped to heighten awareness of Native Americans on campus. The upcoming quincentennial of Columbus's landing in America, he says, will also make Native Americans more visible.

Secondine is also involved in the admissions office's undergraduate minority recruiting program. He takes an annual trip to Oklahoma, which has a significant Native American population, to encourage minority students to apply to Harvard.

While he finds the admissions program important and helpful, Secondine thinks Harvard can take some definite actions to increase diversity among the student body and the faculty.

"I think I would expand the recruitment program to include coordination for scattered areas--places like Oregon and South Dakota," he says. He would also establish "a period of loan forgiveness for minorities and women to get Ph.D's."