As Harvard College's population begins to look more and more like the rest of America-currently 41 percent of students identify themselves as racial minorities-relations among minorities are becoming even more important.

For the most part, Harvard's minority student groups have chosen to be largely self-directed organizations, often leaving the Minority Students Alliance (MSA)--an umbrella group founded to bridge the gaps between groups--with few members and little role on campus.

"Multicultural dialogue is not being furthered as much as it can be," says Michael M. Espiritu '01, one of the few returning MSA members. "And it's because we have difficulty bringing groups together."

In the late 1980s, a handful of student leaders from the Asian American Association, Hillel and other minority groups founded MSA as an umbrella minority organization with the goals of "intercultural understanding" and "progressive racial action." The idea was that all minority student groups would participate in MSA events and send a representative to MSA meetings.

The two goals of the fledgling organization were the founding of an ethnic studies department and a multicultural students' center.

A decade later, neither of those goals have been accomplished. Most minority student groups have turned inward for political activism, and some of the leaders of those groups are questioning the effectiveness of the MSA.

"The MSA is completely futile when it comes to pursuing its goals," says Grace Y. Shieh '99, former president of the Asian American Association (AAA). "Therefore, none of the minority groups are going to send representatives to it." Shieh was also Cultural Chair of MSA during the 1996-1997 school year.

At MSA's first meeting of this year, only five people showed up; at its second, attendees numbered nine. Co-Chairs Sujit M. Raman '00 and Ethel B. Branch '01 say they are concerned about the low turnout but remain optimistic.

"Most of the student groups are still organizing themselves and getting things in order," Raman says.

Low turnout or not, MSA is busily planning its first event of the year, a follow-up to last year's hugely successful affirmative action debate, which drew 1,500 students. So far, Professor Nathan Glazer has been confirmed for the event, scheduled for this Thursday.

The way Raman sees it, the MSA is currently "in the midst of a comeback" that began last year, following several years of decline. He says that the MSA plans to sponsor more events this year, seeking to create for itself a larger campus presence.

But, as early attendance numbers show, it may be too late for MSA to consolidate a growing number of minority groups.

"The fierce independence felt among most student groups make umbrella organizations difficult to sustain unless they offer members concrete benefits and advantages that couldn't be had elsewhere," says AAA Co-President Jay F. Chen '00, who is also a Crimson executive.

And student leaders say that more and more these benefits are found at the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural Relations, a University-affiliated body that distributes grants and sponsors events such as Cultural Rhythms.

"The Harvard Foundation...is the closest thing on campus we have to an umbrella organization, because it is the main source of funding for basically all ethnic organizations on campus," Chen says.