Ellen I. Smith '92, a co-president of Native Americans at Harvard, calls the group "a real support system."

"For those people who are coming from reservations, or places with high Native American populations, it's very important to have that kind of support system here," Smith says.

Some students overcome initial aversion to the groups and eventually join after the group--for whatever reason--undergoes a change of character or composition.

Sharmila Sen, for example, went to the South Asian table in Adams House once during her first year at Harvard, and was "turned off by it." She says it was "mainly people who had just come over [to the U.S.]" She did not have much in common with them, and was not interested in their discussion, which she says focused on pre-med issues.

Later, after taking a Hindi language class, Sen met more South Asians. She became more active in the South Asian Association after many of the people who once frequented the South Asian table had graduated.

Ahmad also overcame an initial negative experience before becoming active in a group. Ahmad says he went to his first Asian American Association (AAA) meeting and was given a form with different regional groups to check off, such as Chinese or Korean. The form had "no spot for South Asian," says Ahmad, who quickly left the meeting.

Then, Ahmad says, he went to AAA meetings and people asked him what he was doing there. Today, the South Asian student sits on the AAA steering committee.

Ahmad's experience points to the vast diversity that exists within the boundaries of ethnic groups that are sometimes mistakenly perceived as monolithic. Every group, it seems, has factions and subdivisions. And increasingly, inter-racial marriages yield offspring with complex identities. In short, even minorities have minorities.

Hillel Coordinating Council Chair Daniel J. Libenson '92 says "there's a tremendous amount of division within Judaism, both religious and nationalistic."

Among Black students, there are variations in skin color. There are also Caribbean Blacks with a different culture from African Blacks or African-American Blacks. Hispanics include those with Mexican, Puerto Rican and Spanish parents. Native Americans have tribal differences.

And within AAA, there are Chinese-Americans, Indians, Pakistanis, Philipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese and others, all with historical alliances and antipathies. Even within subgroups, there are generational differences and distinctions between those whose families immigrated at different times.

Do these organized ethnic groups work together and talk to each other, or do they end up in conflict? Most students agree that there is some basic level of cooperation, but there are doubts about how far it goes.

"SAA [South Asian Association] is showing a movie with BGLSA [Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Students' Association]," Sharmila Sen says. "What does that mean? I'd love to see when this movie is being shown. Who will sit where?"

One group that has had trouble coordinating with other organizations is BGLSA. "We've had problems with other groups," says former Co-Chair Sheila C. Allen '93, while lauding Hillel, which she says "has been really, really good on gay issues."

At times, many say, it seems as though the groups exist in a vacuum. "I don't see any interaction between the various communities," says, Zaheer R. Ali '94, who is vice president of BSA.