Dear President Drew Gilpin Faust, Provost Alan M. Garber, Dean Michael D. Smith, Dean Xiao-Li Meng, Dean Rakesh Khurana, and Harvard University Faculty and Administration,

On November 15, 2016, just one week after the presidential election, President Faust wrote a letter that envisioned a Harvard “enriched, not embattled, by difference and diversity” and called us to exercise “our capacities and our values” to heal this nation. In response to her bold proposition, we, the Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition, write appealing for critical ethnic studies at Harvard.

Over the past 44 years, Harvard students have submitted 11 different proposals for ethnic studies on this campus; there currently exists neither a concentration nor a department in ethnic studies at Harvard. In light of the recent election results, we believe that this is a moment of opportunity, more critical than ever, to fulfill intellectual needs that have gone unaddressed. The president-elect’s political platform was built on xenophobic, sexist, and racist rhetoric and policy proposals which, even within the first few days of the election, have inspired hate crimes against many marginalized groups in the United States. We believe this calls for Harvard’s urgent action to be ever more proactive in educating "the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society" who are grounded in values of justice and freedom.

We feel that the project of critical ethnic studies is an effective medium through which we can nurture inquiries into the pressing questions of our times, many of which concern race, ethnicity, and power. Institutions of higher education—especially an historic and symbolic institution like Harvard—cannot stand idly by while our shared values are under attack. Thus, Harvard must transform itself on multiple levels to become an institution that can understand and respond effectively to the sociopolitical circumstances of our nation.

Our proposal for structural change includes, but is not limited to, the following. Many of our concerns are also reflected in the recent petition to protect undocumented students.

• Establish an Ethnic Studies Department that offers: undergraduate concentrations and secondary fields in 1) Native American and Indigenous Studies, 2) Latinx Studies, 3) Asian American Studies, 4) Arab and Muslim American Studies, and 5) Comparative Ethnic Studies; and Ph.D. degrees and graduate-level secondary fields in Ethnic Studies.

• Establish a center that would be a national hub for research in critical ethnic studies in comparative, national, transnational, and global frameworks, providing much-needed intellectual space for students, scholars, and faculty on campus.

• Recruit and retain Ethnic Studies faculty and faculty of color by dedicating tenured, tenure-track, and visiting professorships for Ethnic Studies and its allied disciplines such as Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and African and African American Studies.

We believe that now is the time to act—for the University to be at the forefront of teaching, learning, and research in an academic field that seeks to examine some of the most fundamental and critical questions of our time. Indeed, the University must renew its dedication to developing leaders who can make a difference at home and globally.

Respectfully submitted,

Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition, and Students, Staff, Alumni, and Friends of the Harvard Community