CLUH Hopes for Reinvigorated Role on Campus

Hoping to end a much-publicized dormancy and bolstered by an influx of first-year members, the Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) mapped out plans yesterday for renewed influence in campus affairs.

CLUH, whose active membership dwindled to four after commencement in June, has compiled a list of nearly 100 interested first-year students as a result of intensified recruiting.

"I'd say that the freshmen are rather excited about most of the issues, and they've come to us with a lot of topics, most of which we already cover," said R. Brian Black '97, CLUH president. "They're already very motivated to do what we're doing."

At the liberal group's second meeting yesterday, members voted to table in Annenberg Dining Hall and the Houses to raise student awareness of the immigration bill currently under consideration in the Senate sponsored by Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.).

Simpson will be lecturing in the Kennedy School next semester.

CLUH members also voted to examine Harvard's Head of the Charles weekend policy, which limits students to one guest each and requires guests to be registered two weeks in advance.

First-year students attending the meeting said CLUH has effectively drawn attention to current political debates.

"[CLUH] confronted me in Annenberg, and gave me some information about immigration," E. Joanna Guldi '00. "I'm very liberal, and I'm from Texas, where people tend to be very conserative about immigration."

"I found out they were planning petitions and discussions," Guldi said, "So I guess you could say I came because of personal reasons."

"I followed the American Civil Liberties Union, and I think that kind of group is an essential part of our democracy," said Hetty B. Eisenberg '00.

Eisenberg hopes that CLUH can make as much of an impact on Harvard policies as the ACLU has had on national legislation.

In the early 1990s, the group was very vocal in administrative decisions and was at the center of campus controversies over ROTC, co-ed rooming, and computer network privacy. But last year, the group's membership dwindled and consisted mainly of seniors working on theses.

Members said yesterday that by limiting physical access to Harvard Yard and student's ability to have guests, the Head of the Charles week end policy might be infringing on residents' and students' civil rights.

"We're just doing fact-finding at the moment," vice president Craig A. Lancaster '97 said. "We want to discover exactly what unusual rules are in effect on Head of the Charles weekend, and what the justification behind those rules is."

If CLUH does decide to take action, Black said, it would formulate an alternative proposal to the current policy and submit it to the administration for consideration.

Black said that the group addresses topics "as they 'come up" in their meetings, although CLUH has continued to be active on some issues, such as the death penalty, since it was founded in 1986.

Lancaster said that the group's active membership, which he estimated will settle at about 20, will be roughly consistent with that of the CLUH's most influential years.

"The aims of this year and last year are the same, the processes we work through are the same," Lancaster said. "The difference will be activeness, and this year we won't have the problems with activeness that we had last year because of declining membership.

"We're just doing fact-finding at the moment," vice president Craig A. Lancaster '97 said. "We want to discover exactly what unusual rules are in effect on Head of the Charles weekend, and what the justification behind those rules is."

If CLUH does decide to take action, Black said, it would formulate an alternative proposal to the current policy and submit it to the administration for consideration.

Black said that the group addresses topics "as they 'come up" in their meetings, although CLUH has continued to be active on some issues, such as the death penalty, since it was founded in 1986.

Lancaster said that the group's active membership, which he estimated will settle at about 20, will be roughly consistent with that of the CLUH's most influential years.

"The aims of this year and last year are the same, the processes we work through are the same," Lancaster said. "The difference will be activeness, and this year we won't have the problems with activeness that we had last year because of declining membership.