Besides Raza, Latinas Unidas and La O, the College is home to Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan, Del Sur magazine and the Hispanic Forum, a political group which is concerned with Latin American issues as well as those closer to student concerns.

Many students say that despite the social function of such organizations, they see no significant Latino cliques forming.

Although a number of students enjoy spending time with people who share their experiences and viewpoints, most students feel that there are no exclusive or rigid Hispanic social sets and no house with a particularly large Latino community.

But only students of Puerto Rican and Mexican backgrounds have organizations specifically concerned with their needs. Some students see the lack of groups for other Latino ethnicities as a problem.

Leaders of both Raza and La O say they are addressing the gap by making their organizations more inclusive.

"Right now we send [mailings] to all Chicanos on campus," says Garcia, "but we hope to expand to all Latinos."

Both organizations have had board members of other Latino backgrounds, but Cortes says there is a limit to how many groups one organization can serve.

"I would like for La O to reach out to all Latino groups, but if you reach out to all Latino groups you risk losing focus," says Cortes. "There are certain issues that are specific to certain nationalities."

But the groups, which have traditionally served social and cultural functions, are now becoming overtly political in their aims and activities.

Raza, for instance, recently changed its constitution, adding the position of social chair so that the president could concentrate more on policy goals.

Among those goals has been a recent push by Raza and La O to add Latino faculty and ethnic studies courses to Harvard's curriculum.

"It's very hard to function in a place where there are no role models," says Fernandez. You're at Harvard, but you don't feel you're represented in the administration or what the University does."

The dearth of Latino faculty is one important reason, some Hispanic students say, that they look wistfully at the California schools, many of which have Chicano studies majors.

"What [Harvard administrators] need to do is to be more inviting for Latino faculty," says Garcia. "They've got to honestly want it to happen as well...I think they don't understand the importance of it."

Epps, Harvard's top authority on race relations, says that he "agree[s] that some consideration should be given to ethnic studies, which includes Latino studies," but refers further questions to faculty administrators more directly concerned with such issues.