Group to Arrange Anti-Powell Protest

More than 20 people met last night to form a new group to plan and coordinate a protest during Commencement exercises against the choice of Gen. Colin L. Powell as Commencement speaker.

Members of the coordination group, tentatively named Commencement Pride, said they plan to focus on widespread participation. They hope to distribute 7,000 balloons to the crowd in Tercentenary Theater.

"On the day of Commencement, [we want] everyone to carry one balloon in for every gay and lesbian soldier kicked out of the military during Colin Powell's term. There will be about 7,000 balloons given out to graduates," said Brad B. Sears, a member of the gay, lesbian and bisexual group at Harvard Law School.

Last night's meeting was sponsored by the Leadership Council of Harvard's gay, lesbian and bisexual student, faculty and alumni groups, and it included non-Harvard affiliates and people who do not belong to gay, lesbian or bisexual groups.

"Our goal is 100 percent participation by everyone in the Yard," said Andrew J. Greenspan, a member of the Kinsey 2-to-6er's, the gay, lesbian and bisexual group at the Medical School.

Another part of the visual protest will be stickers distributed by the group for students to place on their mortarboards. Commencement Pride wants students to hold up the mortarboards while Powell is receiving his degree and call out against the ban, Sears said.

Packets with the stickers and information about the protest will be distributed on Commencement Day, said Graduate School of Design student Kristina E. Hill, a member of the Graduate School of Design Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Students.

Hill said that, at the present time, no actual disruption of the ceremonies is planned. "Having people lift their mortarboards with the stickers and chanting 'lift the ban' may be seen as disruptive by some," she said.

Hill added, however, that other groups holding independent demonstrations against Powell may take a different approach. "If there is a disruptive protest, it may happen in the afternoon and it may not be us," she said.

Commencement Pride members said they plan to meet weekly until Commencement, June 10.

Part of this process, said Hill, will be a campaign to attract undergraduate student interest in the movement. "Undergraduates are essential to Commencement," she said. "We're going to make a special effort in the Houses."

The members of the group emphasized that it was open to all Harvard students, faculty, alumni and professionals, regardless of sexual orientation.

"A quarter of the students who attended the meeting were straight. This is open to everyone who wants to work on Commencement University-wide," said Sears.

Six graduating students from various gay, lesbian and bisexual groups will meet on their own behalf with President Neil L. Rudenstine next Wednesday to discuss matters relating to Commencement, said group members.

Hill said that the group will soon start a poster campaign that will continue to graduation and will attempt to form a coalition with other minority groups on campus.

One protesting group interested in combining its efforts with Commencement Pride is the recently formed coalition backing fired Harvard employee Darryl Hicks, said Alejandro E. Reuss '93, who also attended the meeting last night.

Hicks, a former cook in the Harvard Union dining hall, was fired last month by Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry. Hicks was a union steward who often clashed with management, and Reuss is part of a student group that has charged that Hick's firing was motivated by racism and an attempt to break the union.

"It became clear [in the course of planning the protest] that the best way to go forward, as both involve the underlying problem of discrimination at Harvard, would be to forge a united front. Different battles being fought at different locations at Harvard are ultimately highly connected," said Reuss

The members of the group emphasized that it was open to all Harvard students, faculty, alumni and professionals, regardless of sexual orientation.

"A quarter of the students who attended the meeting were straight. This is open to everyone who wants to work on Commencement University-wide," said Sears.

Six graduating students from various gay, lesbian and bisexual groups will meet on their own behalf with President Neil L. Rudenstine next Wednesday to discuss matters relating to Commencement, said group members.

Hill said that the group will soon start a poster campaign that will continue to graduation and will attempt to form a coalition with other minority groups on campus.

One protesting group interested in combining its efforts with Commencement Pride is the recently formed coalition backing fired Harvard employee Darryl Hicks, said Alejandro E. Reuss '93, who also attended the meeting last night.

Hicks, a former cook in the Harvard Union dining hall, was fired last month by Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry. Hicks was a union steward who often clashed with management, and Reuss is part of a student group that has charged that Hick's firing was motivated by racism and an attempt to break the union.

"It became clear [in the course of planning the protest] that the best way to go forward, as both involve the underlying problem of discrimination at Harvard, would be to forge a united front. Different battles being fought at different locations at Harvard are ultimately highly connected," said Reuss