May
12
Source: Boston.com
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A really good article about a college student at Harvard who is definitely smart enough to be there but feels a little left out socially because of his socioeconomic status.
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One Response to “Globe: “The Harvard Disadvantage””
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I am writing to address comments and express my concerns regarding a recent article published by the Boston Globe in which I was featured titled “The Harvard Disadvantage”. First of all, allow me to admit that although I believe the article to be rooted in legitimate arguments, I found it to be one-sided, misrepresentative, and ultimately counterproductive. I was asked to share my opinion regarding the issue because of my involvement with the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, particularly my involvement with issues concerning income and social class on campus.
Personally, I was disgruntled with the author’s self-constructed image of me. The author’s decision, for example, to use my expressed interest in writing for the Harvard Crimson and translate it into an image of me writing “in my journal to sort out my feelings”, or to claim that I was relocated due to class-tension issues (which is completely false) reveals the deliberate choice to portray the interviewed students as ghetto, troubled, self-absorbed, and socially misfit. The article disregarded my involvement with campus organizations, my immeasurable happiness with Harvard faculty and students, and my positive attempts to address these issues. It is obvious that the writer intended to portray the subjects, not as multifaceted individuals, but as low-income, “needy” students. These fabrications have the potential to cause dismissal more than they do to evoke productive dialogue.
But this skewed and stereotypical depiction is more problematic than it appears. The author applies the forced images of the interviewed students on all low-income students. This distortion of truth can be used to support the argument that low-income students are commonly unqualified, ill-equipped, and unfit for a place like Harvard. It can lead some to believe that Harvard’s Financial Aid Initiatives are unsuccessful and that minority recruitment efforts are futile. Quite the contrary, however, Dean Fitzsimons and Senior Admissions Officer David Evans, have frequently stated that the recent minority recruitment efforts, and new financial aid initiatives have led to the formation of the “most academically gifted classes in the history of Harvard College”.
Needless to say, the article’s focus on laundry and tuxedos is trivial and silly (aside: I actually enjoy doing laundry and most of us rent tuxedos, if needed), but let’s not ignore the issue at hand—the fact is that socioeconomic, immigrant, and transitional issues have been historically overlooked at Harvard. These unaddressed issues have led students, due to misunderstandings and feelings of isolation, to categorize based on class and race. In addition, Harvard has had, until very recently, one of the lowest low-income student enrollment rates among the Ivies. However, this enrollment issue is NOT exclusive to Harvard.
Largely overlooked is the fact that American universities with the largest endowments continue to do a poor job in enrolling low-income students. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education’s data shows that, as of 2008, over the past 23 years, eight of the 10 universities with the largest endowments have shown a decline in the percentage of low-income students in their student bodies. Over the past five years, many of these universities have virtually eliminated the cost of attending these institutions for students from families earning under $60,000. Yet, over the most recent two-year period, the percentage of low-income students has declined at eight of the 10 universities with the largest endowments. Clearly, there is more work to be done.
But Harvard’s pioneering financial aid initiatives—which provide money for tuition, books, housing, etc—have caused a dramatic increase in low-income applicants and students. In the past ten years, the percentage of federal Pell-Grant qualifying students (of family incomes typically below $40,000) at Harvard has increased almost ten percent. But diversity is more than putting everyone in the same room.
Very little has been done to address the different needs that these students bring with them to campus. Financial aid policies are not enough to ensure success and should be complemented with a range of support systems. Multicultural centers, Women’s studies centers, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations are commonplace on college campuses. Why is it so hard to acknowledge that, similar to other minorities, students from different socioeconomic backgrounds arrive to campus with different needs? It’s time to acknowledge, support, and celebrate one more form of diversity that is too often ignored: socioeconomic diversity.
The successful “I am Harvard” campaign spearheaded by the Association of Black Harvard Women and the Black Men’s Forum in 2007 intended to bring the campus together through a series of events to question the conception of what a Harvard student should look and act like. The “campaign served as an affirmation of minorities” rightful presence at the University. But the issues of class and race are not mutually exclusive and often intersect. Shouldn’t all minority groups, including underrepresented socioeconomic groups, have the right to assert their presence and identity at Harvard? Is it not possible to be grateful towards Harvard’s unmatched generosity while still fearlessly expressive of constructive criticism?
Misunderstandings, lack of information, inflammatory articles, and avoidance of sensitive issues create fruitless tensions. The mistake of the Globe article is not that it spoke of socioeconomic issues on campus but that it made it seem as if Harvard was making no efforts to address the issues. The article intended to perpetuate old images of the place that everyone loves to criticize. But I do think that we should acknowledge the distinct and uncomfortable challenges that low-income students face on campus. We should acknowledge that the issues of classism, while less overt than depicted in the story, are real. Most importantly, we should work towards addressing these issues and finding solutions.
Investing in the welfare, comfort, and education of all Harvard students will make the campus a more enriching place for students of all socioeconomic statuses, races, countries of origin, sexual orientations, and religious beliefs. We can choose to dismiss the article as sensationalist, unfounded, and inflammatory and pretend that the issue of class does not exist, or we can open up to engaging in productive dialogue and by doing so, make the first steps towards narrowing the silent yet present class divisions on campus. We must work together to build a community in which everyone “is Harvard”.
In many ways, Harvard is a microcosm that contains and reflects all the problems and divisions of the larger society. But Harvard is more than that, because we not only mirror the present, we have a hand in shaping the future. I believe we each have an obligation to help make Harvard a living and learning community marked by pluralism and mutual respect.
Miguel Garcia