But of the hundreds of grants approved by SACthis year, SAC members say this grant was one ofonly one or two to be challenged by theFoundation's Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC),which tabled his request.

Counter says the FAC advocated holding a panelon violence against gays in the wake of theMatthew Shepard's death instead of the Queers ofColor Perform-a-Rama.

But Nicole L. Deblosi'99, who served as BGLTSAco-chair this year, says she believes the FACoverturned the SAC recommendation because theywere uncomfortable with homosexuality.

"They rejected it with some homophobicassumptions about what the performance was goingto be about," DeBlosi says.

Tan says it is "almost definite" that theBGLTSA will receive funding for the event from theMassachusetts Governors Commission on Gay andLesbian Youth and plans to hold the event nextyear without the Foundation's support.

The Face of the Foundation

Counter has been the Foundation's directorsince its inception in 1981.

Nina S. Sawyer'01, this year's CatholicStudents Association SAC representative, praisesCounter as a cordial, committed and intelligentleader.

"Dr. Counter is the genius behind the creationof the Foundation," Sawyer says. "He's the mainlink to everything."

Counter and many members of the Foundation'sFAC, however, have little formal training in racescholarship.

Counter is a neuroscience professor. Seven ofthe 18 FAC members are science professors. Six areadministrators. No one from the Afro-AmericanStudies Department's "dream team" of race scholarssits on the committee.

Obermeyer--who says Counter does "a good job ofmaintaining the Foundation's image"--adds that hethinks the organization might benefit fromadvisers with more academic training in race.

"Maybe having either some other professors orsome people who are very dedicated to the positionof improving race relations or doing politics oncampus would be helpful," Obermeyer says.

Gomes says the administration may have hadlittle choice in selecting its early leaders fromoutside the emerging disciplines of ethnicstudies.

"Race was not a category of discourse when thiswas conceived," Gomes says. "Race types, whoeverthey may be, like the Super Bowl stars in theAfro-American Studies department, they didn'texist. We were laboring the vineyard before theylanded here so I guess we had to use9RHYTHMS

THE FACULTY ADVISORY COMMITTEEMathew MaclnnisCrimsonSource: Foundation Web siteThe Harvard Foundation for Race andIntercultural Relations is governed by student andfaculty advisory committees. The vast majority ofthe Foundation's faculty are not scholars in raceor ethnicity.Ali S. A. AsaniProfessor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languagesand CulturesJorge I. DominguezDirector of the Weatherhead Center forInterational AffairsDavid L. EvansSenior Admissions Officer, Office of AdmissionsWilliam M. GelbartProfessor of Molecular and Cellular BiologyJ. Woodland HastingsMangelsdorf Professor of Natural SciencesLeo Ou-Fan LeeProfessor of Chinese LiteratureKarel F. LiemBigelow Professor of Ichthyology and Dunster HouseMasterJames J. McCarthyAgassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography,Pforzheimer House MasterMichael ShinagelDean of Continuing Education and Quincy HouseMasterKaren E. Avery '87Assistant Dean of Harvard CollegeJohn E. Dowling '57Cabot Professor of the Natural SciencesWilliam R. Fitzsimmons '67Dean of Admissions and Financial AidRobin GottliebSenior Preceptor, Department of MathematicsMarvin HightowerSenior Writer, Office of News and Public AffairsHarry R. Lewis '68Dean of Harvard CollegeMyra A. MaymanDirector of the Office of the ArtsWilliam PaulMallinckrodt Professor of Applied Physics andProfessor of PhysicsRobert M. WoollacottProfessor of Biology