Yesterday, student advocates for Latino studies also presented Hyman with a letter signed by over 100 members of the Harvard community requesting a Latino studies department and an increase in number of faculty and courses in the field.

Students said the letter was received much more positively yesterday than it was when presented to Summers in March.

“I was glad to see that we were able to engage in a meaningful dialogue with a member of the administration,” said RAZA President Maribel Hernandez ’04. “For the first time we felt respected by the administration.”

Hyman’s response to the letter was that a department was unlikely due to the lack of “critical mass of scholars.” But he told the students that many of their aims could be achieved by taking matters into their own hands and talking to department heads.

“Going to the faculty would have been the next step anyway, but it is nice to know that he is reinforcing what we are doing,” Hernandez said

Other students echoed the positive nature of the meeting.

“The Provost understands that our efforts are not about receiving privileges [for Latino students] but instead about achieving high quality teaching and research at this university,” said Luis S. Hernandez, a Divinity School student and co-chair of Concilio Latino.

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.