Dissent: If Moderate Conservatives Are Quiet, It’s Not for Lack of Space

Conservatism at Harvard is alive and well.

Membership in conservative student organizations has swelled. Authors for the Salient are increasingly foregoing anonymity. And most recently, Harvard’s Conservative and Republican Student Conference proceeded without interruption — despite featuring seemingly white supremacist rhetoric — marking a noteworthy shift from the collective opposition demonstrated by liberal affiliates after Trump’s first victory.

Take it from a former president of the Harvard Republican Club: “It’s never been a better time to be a Republican at Harvard.”

Our peers on the Editorial Board are correct to note that the campus right has grown increasingly radical in recent years. But, because the Board naively assumes that this shift has left an imagined crowd of moderate conservatives with a scarcity of opportunities to express their views, we dissent.

On a campus where you can invite a speaker who talks about the importance of a “European majority” with virtually no public protests, we find it difficult to believe that there’s a dearth of spaces where more moderate conservative opinions are welcome.

The Harvard Republican Club or the John Adams Society may no longer be these spaces. But certainly, organizations like the Institute of Politics — which regularly hosts moderate Republicans as guest speakers, creates mentorship opportunities for conservatives, and has recently made a point of emphasizing its commitment to nonpartisanship — are more than welcoming to moderates.

The Board attributes the ostensible lack of moderate conservatism in our lecture halls and sections to a flawed campus speech culture. While it is true that among the College’s last graduating class, most students did not feel comfortable expressing controversial opinions, our campus has also seen a notable increase in apparent tolerance for extremist conservative views since Trump’s reelection.

Under these circumstances, it seems equally plausible that the “scarcity” of moderate conservatism at Harvard is a result of the rightward shift of the conservative movement writ large or the possibility that students who identify as moderate are simply less likely to be as politically engaged in the first place.

This isn’t to say that our campus speech culture is perfect, but the distinction here is important: Whether students want to participate politically is a completely different issue from whether they are free to do so.

Harvard’s most extreme conservatives have forced themselves into the spotlight. We’re just not sure there’s a cadre of quiet moderates with nowhere to go.

E. Matteo Diaz ’27, an Associate Editorial editor and Crimson Diversity and Inclusivity Chair, is a double concentrator in Social Studies and Applied Mathematics in Leverett House. Clyve Lawrence ’25-27, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a Government concentrator in Adams House. Nuriel R. Vera-DeGraff ’26, an Associate Editorial editor, is a double concentrator in Social Studies and Mathematics in Mather House

Dissenting Opinions: Occasionally, The Crimson Editorial Board is divided about the opinion we express in a staff editorial. In these cases, dissenting board members have the opportunity to express their opposition to staff opinion.