Activism Turns To Social Issues

In 1969, when Harvard students took over University Hall to protest ROTC presence on campus, participants considered themselves part of a nationwide challenge to The Establishment.

But activism has itself become an established institution over the past generation. Protests are expected and accepted by institutions like Harvard University, and some campus leaders would not have it otherwise.

Last month, a sit-in at the Law School Dean's office by the Black Law Students' Association brought a quick response. University officials taught the students how to use the office coffee maker and arranged meetings between them and administrators--while quietly posting guards around other University buildings. When the sit-in ended, the law students received only general promises that their concerns would be addressed in accordance with existing policies.

Similarly, students, alumni and union workers staged a protest this week at the Ropes and Gray law offices of Harvard Overseer Thomas O'Donnell, armed with a cellular telephone and a trio of designated spokesmen. They insisted that he resign from either his University post or hispartnership in the law firm.

After hours of negotiation over the conditionsof a discussion with O'Donnell, they werearrested--but only after those who wished to leavehad been politely escorted from the building.

In the past 10 years, the definition of'activism' has changed dramatically. At one time,the word "activist" connoted not only a set ofpolitical tactics but a Bohemian way of life.Clothing and hairstyle defy stereotyping, and theissues have changed, say Harvard activists today.

Today's activists lack a single unifying issueon the order of the Vietnam War or the CivilRights movement. Student activists' efforts aredispersed among many different movements andtactics.

And although some, like Endowment forDivestiture (E4D) chairman Jonathan E. Martin '88,say activism 20 years ago covered the same broadspectrum that it does today, others say recentactivism has edged away from foreign policy. Theysay activism is coming home, focusing on socialissues such as discrimination based on race, sex,or sexual orientation.

They point to the emergence of such groups asStop Witholding Access Today (SWAT), which formedto help Lisa J. Schkolnick '88 in her sexdiscrimination grievance against the all-malefinal clubs. Other new groups this year includeDefeat Homophobia, a new branch of the Gay andLesbian Students Association (GLSA), an AIDSinformation organization, and several new PhillipsBrooks House community programs.

Even those who do not see new trends in studentactivism say that every movement fluctuates inpopularity. "The [divestment] movement has itsebbs and flows," says Dorothee E. Benz '87, adivestment activist. "It comes and goes, and itwill probably come again."

In the mean time, however, activism at Harvardseems to have taken on a new emphasis and new,less confrontational tactics.

"Most activist groups [at Harvard] are tryingto work within the machinery of change," says Deanof the College L. Fred Jewett '57. He says theClass of 1988 has "more commitment to publicservice than five or eight years ago." Jewett addsthat much of the bitterness that oncecharacterized activists' dealings with theUniversity has disappeared. And, he says, in someways this may make it easier to work out problems.

Not all activists agree. While some praise thenew techniques as more efficient, others say theyhave diluted the old fervor, and that today'sactivists are less willing to sacrifice for theirbeliefs. As Jeanne F. Theoharis '91 points out,few Harvard activists today are willing to bearrested--because the University is more tolerantthan in the past, but also because most protesterswere not activists before coming to Harvard.

In addition, Jewett says the diversity oftopics now covered by student movements hasweakened College officials' ability to respond toeach set of demands. "We're probably involved inmany more kinds of issues. When you're out workingon a variety of different things, it's demandingto stay on top of things."

The definition of 'new activism' has blurred,as students' more conciliatory tactics merge intocooperation with University officials. The trendis not new; it may have begun with the 1969occupation of University Hall, which gave rise tostudent-faculty committees with an open channel toCollege administrators. But Jewett says thetendency toward persuasion reaches ever greatersophistication.

This spring, for example, the MinorityStudents' Association issued a report calling forquicker minority faculty hiring. The report,documented by national hiring statistics andcomparative figures from other colleges, promptedDean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence to create acommittee of professors to review FAS hiringprocedures.

Other student groups applied more diversetechniques. Using its annual "awareness days" as aspringboard, GLSA organized efforts to counterwhat members described as pervasive homophobia oncampus. In addition to distributing informationand pins, GLSA submitted a 13-point proposal tothe College, along with results from a campus-widesurvey, asking it to retrain tutors and advisorson handling issues of sexual orientation. As withmany other challenges, the College responded bycreating another discussion committee, includingGLSA leaders, faculty and administrators.

Perhaps the nature of the new activism becomesclearest in smaller groups. Disabledundergraduates in Advocates for a Better LearningEnvironment (ABLE) consider themselves "radicallyactivist" because they seek general changes in thephysical plant of the University and in thecommunity's attitudes. But the handful of severelymobility-impared students at Harvard say they usethe organization only as a means to meet withadministrators.

Even large organizations with broad, fixedagendas, tend to choose negotiation over publicconflict. Students working for the Harvard Unionof Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW)organization drive focused their attention onbuilding community support for the union. Bydistributing pins, posters and balloons, thestudents intended to create an atmosphere wherestaff members considering the union would be lessinfluenced by the University's anti-unioncampaign.Massive rallies like this 1985 divestmentprotest are growing rarer as student groups branchout and choose smaller, more pragmatic goals.