Lewis and others say just finding suitable candidates--of any race or ethnicity--is already a difficult job, given the post's many demands and a limited pool of qualified Faculty members who are interested in holding the position.

That difficulty is compounded by the relatively small number of tenured Faculty members of color at Harvard.

Still, Lewis says the College looks "particularly closely" at candidates from underrepresented groups who are part of the pool of potential masters, but gives the most weight to making sure a candidate has the requisite "core traits" for the position.

Leverett House Master Howard Georgi '68, who was appointed under Lewis' supervision two years ago, says he agrees that a potential master's demographics should matter less than his or her qualifications.

"Having a master of color is very important, but not as important as somebody willing to do a good job," Georgi says. "The first priority is to find someone who will throw themselves into the position. If we do have a candidate [of color] that is suitable, fantastic."

This goal is not new to the masters selection process, according Thomas A. Dingman '67, associate dean of the College for human resources and the House system.

"The effort to have the pool include people of color as potential candidates has been made for many, many years," Dingman says. "The students [from AAC] weren't bringing something to us that we weren't aware of; it made us feel like this was something that we need to make progress in."

The source of the problem, some say, is the dearth of minority senior Faculty members.