Summers’ Nixing of Latino Studies a Deal Breaker for Some Harvard Faculty
By David Pluviose
In the months following his ascension to the presidency in July 2001, Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers was presented with two proposals to boost multicultural research at the university. First was a proposal to create a Latino studies center in the mold of the university’s much-respected Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Summers nixed the plan. Later, he was presented with a new proposal, this time for an immigration studies center. Again, he vetoed the plan.
Dr. Gary A. Orfield, professor of education and social policy, and his colleagues felt that Harvard “was a logical place to create a ‘Dream Team’ to work on issues of Latino problems in the U.S.,” given the explosive boom in the nation’s Latino population.
“We thought it was a wonderful idea and a unique opportunity for Harvard, and it was shot down by Larry Summers,” says Orfield, who is also director and co-founder of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard. “And we came back with a proposal to do one on immigration since he didn’t want anything that dealt directly with Latinos as an ethnic group, and that was shot down as well.”
According to Orfield, some faculty members have left Harvard as a result of Summers’ rejection of the Latino studies proposal. Among those departing were Drs. Marcelo and Carola Suárez-Orozco, now at NYU. Orfield says they’re move was “a terrible loss for Harvard.”
“There’s virtually no faculty who work on Latino issues at [Harvard]. The only really prominent one is [Dr.] David Carrasco in the Divinity School,” Orfield says. “There’s just no faculty in the arts and sciences particularly. There’s a few in education and public health and other places.”
