The social studies and women's studies concentrations partly owe their existence to faculty support, Tan says.

"Social studies happened and women's studies happened because faculty came together," he says.

In addition to decentralization, another factor was Lin's leave of absence in the fall of 1998. Nisha S. Agarwal '00 says the movement declined after Lin's absence.

"When Nancy left, the movement died away with her," Agarwal says.

Lin became involved in the movement when she heard about ESAC as a sophomore. She became heavily involved with the Academic Affairs Committee in the spring of 1998. She says that although the movement struck a positive chord with many students, "it takes more than support to run an organization."

She says it is hard for ethnic studies to be the basis for a broad-based movement, since it is more esoteric than other causes and sometimes difficult to explain to faculty and students.

"Students have different ideas about what they want," she says.