Gayle said he and other members of BSA attempted to show pre-frosh that the opportunities at Harvard outweigh concerns raised by the current controversy.
“A president who may not...be the most tactful, certainly should not be the deciding factor when looking at schools,” he said.
UMRP hosted two panel discussions for minority pre-frosh, including one student panel and one Faculty panel that was addressed by Rudenstine Professor of Latin American Studies David L. Carasco and moderated by David L. Evans, a senior officer in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Minority community groups on campus also hosted a number of social events this weekend.
The BSA, Fuerza Latina and RAZA sponsored a barbeque Saturday afternoon outside the Science Center, while the Caribbean Club hosted a carnival in the Quincy House courtyard on Sunday. And the Asian American Association (AAA) co-sponsored a barbeque with the Korean Association on Saturday.
Also the Black Men’s Forum and Fuerza Latina both sponsored parties this weekend.
And events highlighting minority culture such as a concert by the Kuumba Singers and the annual Eleganza fashion and entertainment show, also took place.
As of yesterday, it was too early to definitively tell whether the Summers-West conflict would negatively impact the acceptance yields for minority students this year.
Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis ’70-’73 said yesterday the College’s admissions yields for black and Latino students tend to be roughly on par with those for white students.
But students accepted into the Class of 2006 have until May 1 to accept or decline the University’s offer—and McGrath Lewis said yesterday she did not have any early estimates of the yields on those students.
Fred O. Smith ’04, political action chair of the BSA, suggested this year’s yield for minorities will be unaffected by West’s departure. But if Summers does not improve his rocky relationship with the minority community, these numbers may go down.
“I doubt that the Summers conflict will have a major impact on minority students’ decision to come here, at least not yet,” Smith wrote in an e-mail. “I do think however, that in the upcoming year, if Summers continues on his current course, his reputation as being unfriendly to minorities will become more firmly entrenched.”
Sophia Lai ’04, co-president of the AAA, said she thought the Summers-West controversy was less of a concern to Asian-American pre-frosh she spoke with. But that did not mean diversity was not an important factor in their college choice.
“I think [diversity] is a big concern for Asian-Americans,” she said.
But she said the pre-frosh she had talked to were more concerned with the diversity of the student body than of the curriculum.
Sherman said yesterday he hoped pre-frosh walked away from the weekend’s events with a sense of the strong minority community that he feels is present at Harvard.
“The students came up, and they saw what the campus has to offer,” he said. “Hopefully this weekend, pre-frosh saw a group of students who are fighting to hold Harvard accountable for its commitment to diversity, and if anything, it’s going to bring us even closer together.”
—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.