"He's the most involved faculty member on campus," said Aids E. Bekele '94, co-chair and member of the Operations Committee.
The Office of Race Relations was "established [in 1987] with the dual mandate of responding to incidents of racial insensitivity and providing educational resources to promote racial harmony," according to a five-year evaluation report issued by the office in December.
In addition, the Office sponsors two student groups: Actively Working Against Racism and Ethnocentrism (AWARE), which "organizes educational forums in order to promote racial awareness and address concerns about the campus and national racial climates," and Students at Harvard Against Racism and Ethnocentrism (SHARE), a multicultural peer education program.
Though Counter, Gravelle and Epps still report to Jewett, Jewett has kept a low-profile on the race relation front. Jewett says his role as chief administrator of a number of College offices hampers his ability to give the proper attention to questions of diversity.
"It was not an area that I had devoted specific responsibility," he says, referring to years previous to Epps' designation as race czar. "Really I couldn't devote the time to doing it."
And this year it has been Epps coordinating what he calls "a central agenda" for what may be the most important issue facing the College administration.
One influential student questions the appointment of Epps as race relations coordinator. "I think Dr. Counter and Dean Hernandez-Gravelle have been working in race issues far a number of years and I have to question the appointment of anyone else as race coordinator," says Nicholson.
What exactly the position of race coordinator constitutes remains in question. Epps sees himself as a "facilitator," someone to expedite the existing organization, but the policy-making authority still lies with Knowles and ultimately President Neil L. Rudenstine. Epps will preside over committees and recommendations, but Knowles or Rudenstine will make the final decisions.
As Epps continues to expand his role as race czar he knows he is venturing into the murky waters of a volatile issue.
In an interview just after his appointment as the czar, Epps said associates warned him in 1980 not to get mired in a controversy over race relations. He acknowledged the precariousness of his position, as the sole Black administrator, trying to represent an over-whilmingly white administration struggling to stitch together an increasingly diverse, polarized campus.
"It involves risk-taking," he said. "I would not have led the committee in 1980 if I had listened to my peers. All of them said, 'Don't do it. It'll blow up in your face. It'll hurt your career."
And it appears that once again Epps and a very large list of supporting characters hope to quench the fiery issue of race relations in a cold maze of bureaucracy.
D. Richard de Silva and Steven A. Engel contributed to the reporting of this article.