“People can say ‘we won’t join you but we’ll be allies,’” says Reema Rajbanshi ’03, a coalition member. “But that’s not what a coalition is about. Our struggles are their struggles.”

Even the word “coalition” as an official term for their cause faces an uncertain future.

The work done this year by the Student Coalition for Ethnic Studies is now being largely re-channeled into the Foundation’s Academic Affairs Committee, whose “institutional memory” and structure make results more likely to last, according to Yeh.

The group intends to keep steady pressure on the administration to add Faculty and courses relating to the study of ethnicity.

Yeh says the process of forging ties across ethnic groups this year has strengthened and diversified the committee, whose new co-chairs are Lai and Stephanie Paiz ’03. They have been involved in respective efforts to get Asian-American and Latino-American studies and say they also want to unite different ethnic groups on campus.

An Uphill Battle?

Student organizers face the challenge of building a grass-roots campaign, especially one for an academic issue centered around race.

Many look to the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM), whose rallies during last year’s sit-in drew thousands, as the ideal.

Students also note the strong coalition the BSA was able to build last week when they gained the support of more than 50 student groups in their efforts to convince Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74 to remain at Harvard.

But they say building support for ethnic studies is inherently more challenging.

“Ethnic studies is a different issue because it’s so complicated,” says Yeh. “PSLM was able to effectively organize around the 10.25 figure, which is a simple objective people can look towards, similar to the goal of getting Cornel West to stay.”

Gayle says the stark issue of worker’s rights as presented by PSLM made the issue even more compelling.

“You really find out how strongly the community can come together with something like that,” Gayle says.

But Rajbanshi says she thinks minorities are less likely to join activist coalitions because “our voices have been silenced for so long. When you join a coalition like that you give something up. That creates a very real fear.”

She adds that since minority groups “have finally arrived” in a powerful position by attending Harvard, minority students are even more hesitant to act up.