"You take these things one at a time. We havelimited resources," he said.

Murphy said he understands the students'concerns and their point of view.

"It's a very caring group of people who feeldeeply about these subjects. They would like us tomove more quickly," he said. "We're trying to beresponsive, strengthen the curriculum and thepedagogy and the improve the environment of theschool."

In the spring of 1997, GSE issued a workingpaper on diversity, outlining the state ofmulticulturalism on their campus. Since then, thestudents, faculty and administration have had aseries of dialogues discussing minorities in theclassroom.

Students leading the rally told the audiencethat these discussions have not led to any majorchanges.

Murphy said the school has made tremendousprogress in the past few years and currently hasone of the most diverse faculties in theUniversity.

"What we're doing is not viewed as goodenough," he said. "This is Harvard. They want usto be the model."

Ramos said although GSE has made someimprovements, the faculty and administrators havenot achieved all the goals they take credit for.

"The fact remains it's the students who bringthe dialogue into the classrooms," she said. "Itdoesn't come from Harvard."

Ramos said professors complain that, to makeroom for a discussion of diversity in theircurriculum, they would have to remove crucialelements of their existing instruction.

But she said these professors do not understandwhat students want.

"It's not about having a race day. It should bean integral part of everything," she said.

Ricardo Dobles, a fifth-year doctoral student,said that over his years at Harvard, awareness ofdiversity has increased.

"There's a very negative perspective of nothinghaving been done, but I don't think any of thiswould have happened my first year here," he said.

Other students saw a greater need for therally.

"We need more than just words," said first-yeardoctoral student Sonja M. Brookins. "We need to beactive as a community.