NOT QUITE PUCCING THE TREND

At colleges across the country, student governments take on school administrations, take stances on controversial issues and even take over buildings in protest. Not so at Harvard, at least in the decade before 1995.

For years, the Undergraduate Council had tried its best to avoid political debates. Members disdainfully described such discussions as divisive and irrelevant to the council's real function, which they said was to improve student life at Harvard by sponsoring dances, spring concerts and shuttle service to the airport before spring break.

But during last fall's elections, a new coalition sought to change this conception of the council.

Dubbing themselves the Progressive Undergraduate Council Coalition (PUCC), the group fielded a slate of candidates that deviated in ideology and vision from years past.

More women pursued seats on the council than ever before--and almost all of them were affiliated with the fledgling coalition. Many of PUCC's candidates had written for Perspective, the campus's liberal monthly. Most had participated in progressive and activist groups.

PUCC sought a new paradigm for student government at Harvard. It called on the council to use its capacity to speak for the student body and exploit its unique relationship with the administration to advance a number of liberal political causes.

From the outset, PUCC's enemies have dismissed it as a group of pseu-do-intellectual radicals, too liberal to claim to represent mainstream Harvard.

They also maintain that PUCC has been a divisive influence on the council, and that whatever gains it has made in energy are offset by losses from increased factionalization.

But PUCC's success with the larger campus cannot be overlooked.

Its legislation has been supported by women's groups and racial and ethnic organizations, communities traditionally alienated from the white-and male-dominated council.

Several PUCC-sponsored activist initiatives have met with triumph. One example was the push to convince Harvard Dining Services to stick with Coke rather than Pepsi in dining halls, which PUCC supported because the latter's parent corporation had ties to the brutal military regime in Burma.

And perhaps most notably, a majority of the campus endorsed PUCC's agenda and methods when it re-elected Robert M. Hyman '98 as president in the first-ever, campus-wide council elections. As president last fall, Hyman had used his political capital to advance PUCC's activist agenda.

Promising a "Student's Bill of Rights" that was essentially a reprint of PUCC campaign literature, Hyman once and for all defeated Rudd W. Coffey '97, one of the last relics of the services-oriented student government.

Hyman's victory on a platform of activism mirrored the success of PUCC's rainbow coalition of student organizations. Events this year seem to indicate that PUCC is not a fringe group of radicals, as its detractors claim, but a broad-based coalition whose agenda has appeal across the College.

On the whole, PUCC's record this year has been encouraging, PUCC member Tobias B. Kasper '97 says.

"I think, in some sense, yes, [PUCC is activist]," Kasper says. "I think PUCC has played a role in refocusing the U.C. and suggesting it can take on issues other than dances.

"I think there's a general sense that we've accomplished more than we thought we would," he says.

But Kasper admits it has been a "difficult transition."

"Some people weren't at all happy about [the change]," he says.

Internal Strife

Activist student government have their strengths. All agree that they are passionate, energetic and idealistic. But often, they are also characterized by extremism, belligerence and divisiveness.

PUCC has been no exception--many council veterans say this past year was by far the most contentious one they've ever seen, and the number of resignations increased significantly over previous years.

The split between PUCC and the rest of the council intensified in March with the approval of a PUCC-sponsored resolution challenging Harvard's stance toward ROTC, calling on the University to kick the organization's commissioning ceremony off campus.

The ROTC resolution provided the final insult for many council members who did not agree with PUCC politics. After the meeting, 18 members formally announced the establishment of a new coalition, Harvard Students First (HSF).

"[Discontent] had been simmering for a while, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back," says Eric M. Nelson '99, a Crimson editor who was one of HSF's organizers.

A significant number of council members believed that time spent debating human rights and other activist concerns excluded other issues that affect Harvard undergraduates more. HSF was formed to strengthen that position, says Nelson.

"If PUCC is the only organized voice for a specific agenda, then we want to present a viable alternative," he says.

HSF particularly disagrees with PUCC's off-campus focus, Nelson says. He points to the example of "Pinch the Grinch," a food and clothing drive the council held last Christmas.

"[Pinch the Grinch] is a tangible result, as opposed to [the resolution], 'The Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council thinks that human rights abuses are bad.' We would spend three weeks debating that," he says. "As if anyone needs to be told that human rights abuses are bad."

Moral and ethical issues should not be dealt with by the student government, HSF members say.

"We're not Amnesty International," says Wesley B. Gilchrist '98, who left the council because of dissatisfaction with its work. "This is not where the main focus of the council should be, and I feel that's where it has been this year."

But members of PUCC counter that raising these issues within student government has its advantages.

PUCC member Eric D. Albert '98 says that the council's special relationship with the administration and clout with the campus media place it in an ideal position to push for social change.

"This is especially true at Harvard--we're watched by the national media more than any other campus," he adds.

Many agree that there have been conflicts this years between the council's Student Affairs Committee, which handles relations with the administration, and its Campus Life Committee, which oversees the council's social and service projects.

"It's ridiculous that there is this split," says Marco B. Simons '97, who is chair of the council's Student Affairs Committee. "The best council members are people who have worked on both committees."

Although PUCC members are not opposed to council work on social events, they are more fiscally conservative on spending for these events, Simons says.

"In my personal opinion, the need has not necessarily been there for that amount of money," Simons says.

Upcoming Storms

The conflict between the competing ideologies has only intensified this years, and has shown no signs that it will relent in the fall.

Members of both PUCC and HSF say they expect to recruit people to run on their platform next fall in the council's general elections.

Some PUCC leaders have also expressed frustration with the council's conflicts. Some have said that their work can be done more efficiently in other organizations.

But members on both sides agree that the focus of the council has changed.

Nelson says he is afraid that dissatisfied non-members of PUCC will not run for council next year.

"[The council has become] a hostile environment to those who don't embrace the PUCC agenda," Nelson says. "I'm afraid [next year] it's going to be a very PUCC-dominated council. The odds at this point are greatly in their favor."

But the changes on the council this year are not unique to student government, says Albert. The council's progressive bent is part of a general trend on campus, he says.

"PAN [the Progressive Action Network] and PUCC are signs that things are changing," says Albert. "It's all part of a larger movement."

"It's not going to go away, not for a few years at least," he predicts. "There's still a terrible amount of apathy on campus, but people are beginning to think again, about issues outside of Harvard."