To the editors:
Your "Cultural Festival Excludes Asian Christian Group," (News, Feb. 12) may have had the negative effect of diminishing the value of our annual festival and undermining the efforts of many Harvard undergraduates who worked diligently to make this event a success. Furthermore, the opinion piece on "The Mis-Education of Cultural Rhythms" (Feb. 24) demonstrates a limited understanding of the festival and its mission, and diminishes the successful work of students.
For the past 13 years, the students and Faculty of the Harvard Foundation have sponsored this annual event which celebrates the Harvard community's rich cultural diversity and brings this community together in a unique way. The mission of Cultural Rhythms is to celebrate the diversity of the Harvard community; however, it was never meant to be political, nor was it developed to serve as a complete representation of all of Harvard's diverse peoples.
Given the logistical constraints of both the food festival and cultural show and the finite time that we have to host this event for so many student groups, it is simply impossible to accommodate every student request to participate in Cultural Rhythms. We would love to have many additional student groups perform; however, we cannot include every group that wishes to perform because of the time factor. The recommendations for the cultural show were unanimously approved by the Student/Faculty Advisory Committee.
The comparisons between the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Christian Fellowship (HRAACF) and other performing groups in your news article were misleading, as HRAACF specifically likened the nature of their mission and performance to that of Hillel; however, this fact was omitted. While Hillel is as HRAACF states, a religious group that performs dances in the festival, they do not perform religious dances.
Unfortunately, the two specified not only misrepresent Cultural Rhythms, but they create racial tension and distrust among students who may use The Crimson as their only source of information. Again we remind you that this is an undergraduate student program that is organized by students of many races and cultures. We appeal to you to offer positive support for the hard work of these students and to their dedication to improving intercultural and race relations.
Nana E. Coleman '98
Feb. 25, 1999
The writer is student activities coordinator of the Harvard Foundation
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