Ethnic studies as a concentration, a department, a committee and general course offerings were among the options. Differences of opinion on strategies cropped up as well. Lin says she wants students to be able to pursue their academic interests without having to resort to strategies such as independent study or other alternative resources.

"The support structure doesn't exist," she says.

Agarwal is the founder of the South Asian Studies Initiative (SASI), which began around the same time that Lin was trying to move ethnic studies back into the spotlight.

SASI sometimes collaborated with the Academic Affairs Committee, although its aims are somewhat different, Agarwal said. SASI works for South Asian regional studies, not South Asian-American studies. But Agarwal, too, thinks it is difficult to organize students behind academic issues.

"Student activism in general is hard to get on Harvard's campus," she says. "It's unfortunate that the [ethnic studies] movement has been so sporadic... [There's] a whole host of issues that the University is ignoring."

A Different Time, A Different Place

The activism that gave rise to the Afro-American Studies Department 30 years ago was very different from current movements, says Admissions Officer David L. Evans.

The number of black students in the College increased dramatically in the 1960s--and the nature of activism, particularly college activism, was very different, says Evans, who is now also a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Harvard Foundation.