G.O.P. Experiences Change

The Republican Party, soon to be displaced from the White House for the first time in 12 years, is facing an identity crisis.

As the Rev. Pat Robertson's religious right steps up its efforts to influence the GOP, party moderates moved this week to form the Republican Majority Coalition, aimed at bringing the party "back to its mainstream."

Meanwhile, campus Republicans are undergoing changes as well.

Founders of the Majority Coalition, including Senators Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, say they want to veer away from divisive issues such as abortion and homosexuality, instead focusing on the economy and foreign policy.

And Republicans at Harvard express similar sentiments.

"There's definitely a move toward a more moderate and activist Republican party," says Christopher L. Garcia '95.

Karen E. Boyle '94, who was elected Monday as the campus Republicans' president, says she recognizes this shift and emphasizes the need to stay flexible.

"If an issue on campus were to come up that could potentially divide the club, we would put it to the general vote," says Boyle, who said that the club formerly strictly adhered to national party platform.

"And if there are people who feel strongly on both sides, the Harvard-Radcliffe Republican Club will remain politically neutral," Boyle says.

"We don't want to alienate members," she adds.

Boyle says abortion is the most explosive issue facing her club. Many members, including outgoing president Emil G. Michael '94, do not subscribe to the GOP's anti-abortion plank.

"I myself am not pro-life," Michael said yesterday. "We've preserved the big tent here at the Republican Club, even though the national party is pretty much pro-life at the moment."

Despite the common ground undergraduate Republicans share with the new Majority Coalition, many in the Harvard GOP group support another faction of Republicans, led by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp.

"I feel that Kempism is the predominant Republican philosophy on this campus," says Harry J. Wilson '93, former president of Harvard-Radcliffe Republican Club.

"Kemp sums up what a lot of Republicans on campus feel," says Thomas E. Woods '94, the incoming vice-president of the Republican Club.

"We're probably more of a Kemp club than a Buchanan club," says Woods, referring to Patrick J. Buchanan, the conservative columnist who challenged President Bush in the party primaries.

Buchanan delivered a controversial speech at the Republican Nation- al Convention in Houston, which further alignedhim with the religious right wing of the party.

Kemp's group opposes abortion, in contrast tothe Majority Coalition members who generallysupport abortion rights, but it is Kemp's focus oneconomic issues which appeals to many campusRepublicans, according to Woods. Compiled usingwire dispatches.