"Since there are very few of us, we end up being on more committees than anyone else," says Appiah.

Appiah, chair of the student faculty committee on race relations, says a Black scholar's primary job, like any professor's is to be a teacher and researcher.

"No, I definitely don't think that [involvement in College race relations issues] is part of the job description," he says. "Some of the most active faculty on these issues are not Black."

But the sense of responsibility on race relations issues varies from scholar to scholar Matory feels that his classes, in which he encourages intercultural dialogue, contribute to improve understanding. Many activist initiatives must come from students, he says, because professors are often too cautious.

"There can be no dialogue, no introspection, unless there is a forum for it and an occasion for it," he says. "In a way, it seems to me that Harvard students, unlike Harvard professors, like to do controversial things."

Black professors, by their very presence, have consistently been at the center of mediating race relations. From the surge of hiring in the late 1960s, the presence or absence of Black faculty has been a rallying point for politically active students.

The motivation behind calls for increased Black Faculty representation varies widely, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes, a member of both the FAS and Divinity School faculties, says he sees student activism as a crucial component of that reasoning.

"We're here, in some sense, for the delectation of undergraduates," he says. But "we're not here simply to represent the demographics of the student body."

Harvard's Black faculty are "the best in their fields, not demographic tokens" selected for affirmative action goals, Gomes says.

Other Black scholars say the presence of underrepresented groups, both minorities and women, can bring a voice to the University that it might otherwise lack and should be sought for that reason.

On many issues, "having...debate among intelligent, trained people who have different things at stake is the best way of getting a good picture of the situation," says Appiah.

And although professors reject the argument that Black faculty automatically serve as "mentions" for Black students, many said they feel they are role models and perhaps inspiration to younger scholars.

"Precisely because there are so few Black faculty in the first place, the conception of faculty in general tends not to be a person of color, especially not a Black person," says Phillip Brian Harper, assistant professor of English and Afro-American studies.

The presence of Black faculty, say Harvard professors, disproves that preconception and shatters unhealthy stereotypes. Many say the "mentorship" role of faculty cuts across racial and gender lines and has little to do with similar appearance.

But any discussion of Black faculty members' role at Harvard returns again and again to the same refrain: their scarcity. If Black faculty are to provide an example and contribute a voice, say faculty members, there must be more than eight of them.