Rarely does any student, even if he craves to be among Phi Beta Kappa's Junior Eight, fail to join one or more undergraduate organizations during his four years here. Most of Harvard's 93 organizations serve simply for the amusement of members and are not competitive or demanding. But there are about two dozen organizations that take themselves seriously--so seriously that leading members must devote most of their time to the organization whether or not they like it.

In these organizations, which are Harvards largest, most prestigious, and most influential, important decisions are made by one person, or a very few people. And nine times out of ten, these people in power joined the organization during their freshman year.

It is at that early stage, when most freshmen have little idea of what an organization is like, and even less of an idea about what they are getting into, that the pattern for their next four years is set. Although these organizations differ widely in interests, they fall into several distinct types which every freshmen should know.

Service Boys

High school student body presidents, often but not necessarily from the Midwest, enjoy serving the University in various roles. It may be as sub-chairman of a Combined Charities drive, or it may be as one of the ushers in Memorial Church, who pray louder, sing louder, and scrub cleaner than anyone except the members of Harvard's two principal service societies.

Crimson Key --The square-jawed, straight-arrow, upright young men who give polished tours of the University are the fortunate ones who have survived the Crimson Key competition. This training period, always in the spring, weeds out anyone who does not know the facts and figures about Harvard landmarks or whose personal appearance does not give outsiders the right impression about Harvard. Besides guiding tours, the Crimson Key greets visiting athletic teams, acts as hosts for prospective students, runs a popular football-weekend bus service between Harvard and Wellesley, and other such matters. Its female counterpart, the Radcliffe Shield, is about the same in membership and in its approach.

Harvard Undergraduate Council--The other high school student body presidents, who shun sporty dress for blue jeans and white socks but who are nevertheless the same old frustrated politicians, comprise the HUC. They usually did not serve on the Freshman Council, because they would have learned about Harvard student government then.

The HUC believes its purpose is "to improve education here by speaking on behalf of the students of Harvard on issues facing the University community." Yet the HUC's only creative role in its short past has been to lobby for longer parietal hours and more interhouse dining with Radcliffe. If parietals were extended each night to midnight, the HUC would go out of business.

HUC members have a tendency to talk incessantly among themselves, and not to others; but largely the HUC problem is its unrepresentative nature. It consists of 22 students, all of whom are elected by House Committees and the Freshman Council rather than directly by the undergraduate body. In other words, someone who has the energy for such things can gather a few dormitory votes, get himself elected to his House Committee, have the House Committee elect him to the HUC, and finally defeat one or two possible rivals for the HUC chairmanship. With this support, he can become "the Harvard student leader" for a year or two, or until his national political fantasies begin to fade.

Activists

Of all the major political organizations at Harvard, only two are worthy of the title "activist." The others are basically self-indulgent and devoid of consistent programs.

Association of African and Afro-American Students--The three-year-old AAAAS began as it pretends to be now: an attempt to unite Negro and African students along lines advocated by international civil rights leaders such as Malcolm X and James Foreman. The solidarity was useful to both sides. Africans could mount pressure on the Federal Government about American racial injustices, while American Negroes sought to make the U.S. take a more enlightened view toward Africa.

When Dean Archie Epps and Martin Anochie '64 began AAAAS in 1964, it was very much an African and Afro-American organization. But since Aggrey Awori '65 graduated and left, African participation has fallen off to the extent of becoming only tokenism. The Africans now have very little contact with it, and it is very much an American thing. Properly, the organization's title should now change to the Harvard-Radcliffe Association for Afro-American students.

Despite the tendency away from Pan-Africanism, however, AAAAS serves a valid function. It is an outlet for Harvard and New England Negroes to maintain dignity by identfying as a group and as a private social organization. Currently, some Harvard Negroes are in a tough spot, it being difficult to endorse Black Power right now.

Students for a Democratic Society--SDS has an interesting background at Harvard. Its predecessor, TOCSIN, was vital in the early 1960's at Harvard; it was intellectually oriented and lasted as long as ban-the-bomb was an issue, but the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty wiped out TOCSIN's importance. In 1964, the old TOCSIN remnants and several new groups combined to fill the vacuum for civil rights and peace activities. The TOCSIN tradition was one of sophisticated analysis and objectivity, but in the past year there have been trends both towards more emotionally satisfying tactics of confrontation and towards quiet community organizing.