“When minority groups get access to a place of power we get conservative and tighten up,” Rajbanshi says. “The first thing you have to defend then is your own ethnic group’s enclave.”
Vasquez agrees that “some people would say groups like Latinos and blacks feel more at risk, like they’re putting themselves on the line and it could end up being a waste of valuable time.”
The Tie That Binds
But where race divides, frustration unites—especially discontent with Summers’ response to pleas for ethnic studies.
In general, there is a widespread feeling that Harvard’s administration is interested mainly in “preserving the status quo,” negotiating on the surface as a “formality” but making few real changes.
While students acknowledge that Harvard as an institution moves slowly, they say administrators seem to be dragging their feet on this issue in particular.
“They can’t say ‘no’ to meeting with us because that would be too blatant a rejection,” Vasquez says.
“Things like the Harvard Foundation create the appearance of ethnic solidarity and the illusion that Harvard is friendly to minorities,” says Jackson. “That makes it really difficult for us to ask for things.”
Some also complain about the lack of an official avenue for student input.
“Students shouldn’t have to fight for a voice,” says Roona Ray ’02-’03, who is a PSLM member. “They should just be able to voice their concerns.”
But the biggest rallying point among the groups is concern about Summers’ attitude toward diversity. Students first aired their concerns in March after Latino studies supporters met with Summers and received what they called a perfunctory response.
The recently announced departure of West has done little to allay their fears.
Students say Summers’ attitude has aided the goal of coalition building in an unexpected way.
“He’s equally offensive to every ethnic and progressive group,” says Jackson.
“You know when someone’s keeping you down,” Vasquez says. “I see a lot of strides between Latinos and blacks, because they’re facing the same disrespect.”
Students say the academic nature of their cause necessitates working within the system, to a certain degree. But they agree that a mass movement behind them is necessary to increase their visibility and to sustain pressure on the administration.
Ray says PSLM’s two-pronged strategy of working with administrators and mobilizing student support is one available to ethnic studies supporters as well.
“It would be really great for all students of color to come together and realize their collective power,” she says. “And the legitimacy of that power.”
Student organizers seem to be doing just that. They are planning to hold events this weekend to protest what they are calling the “diversity crisis” at Harvard, which they say includes the status of ethnic studies efforts.
The first event, a silent protest intended to criticize the demographic makeup of the Faculty, will occur tomorrow afternoon.