The good news is that after the initial outcry, there is some evidence to suggest the Temple Bar conflict will soon peter out. At an APALSA meeting Wednesday night that left the organization's position unclear, it seemed as if cooler heads might prevail. Still, some marginal damage has been done to the Temple Bar's reputation and that is unfortunate.

In the meantime, concerned observers are left to wonder, "What lies behind the itchy trigger finger of groups like APALSA? Why are Harvard students apparently so quick to cry racism?" The obvious answer is that they have been trained to see too much of the world in terms of race. Episodes such as this most recent near-boycott are the direct outgrowth of that mindset which contends that ethnic studies is an academic discipline on par with History. They are the direct outgrowth of that mindset which obsessively counts the number of women and minorities on Faculty. And, they are the direct outgrowth of that mindset, which against all objective standards of quality, insists that Diversity and Distinction is a worthwhile read.

At some point the outraged members of APALSA will come to realize that thankfully, for most of the world, their racial identity is not their defining characteristic. If Temple Bar did mistreat them last week it was probably not because they were Asian. More likely, the hostess saw a group of pompous Harvard Law students and decided, perhaps with a touch of malice, to keep them waiting. Who can blame her?

Noah D. Oppenheim '00 is a social studies concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Fridays.