Thanks to the vocal South African Solidarity Committee (SASC), and outsider peering into the Yard might get the mistaken impression that all student political activity centers on South Africa and the University's investment portfolio.

Colorful anti-apartheid protests have become almost commonplace at Harvard, grabbing the campus spotlight and overshadowing a legion of her ongoing activist efforts. From the Conservative Club to the Spartacus Youth League, student activism takes many forms. The following selection of would-be movers and shakers runs the gamut from reaction to revolution.

Radcliffe Union of Students

"Student activism is an inability to sit still, a lack of complacency and a willingness to do something about it," says Ann Pellegrini '86, president of the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS). Established in 1969, RUS provides "financial and spiritual guidance" for woman in the Harvard community by supporting woman's activities and groups, she says.

According to Pellegrini, one of the biggest problems RUS faces is simply making people realize that Radcliffe exists and that it's worthy of their attention. "RUS functions as a gadfly to Harvard's horse. We do things because no one else will," Pellegrini adds.

The organization's past activities include conducting and publishing a 1982 survey on sexual harrassment, sponsoring a women's studies thesis forum, compiling the women's studies course catalog, creating a women's center, and providing financial aid to various other student groups.

One of the problems Pellegrini and RUS must constantly fight is a "feminist-lesbian" stereotype, Pellegrini says. RUS is open to all woman in the Harvard community, but only the more liberal groups tend to associate with it. This places the union in a classic Catch-22 situation which Pellegrini has had difficulty overcoming.

Nevertheless, she remains optimistic about the coming year and student activism in general. "An activist asks for a lot more than he or she gets. We're here to remind the administration that they're accountable to their employees," she says philosophically.

Conservative Club

Unlike RUS, which constantly contends with a leftist stereotype, the Conservative Club savors its near monopoly as the voice of the right.

"Activist' has a leftish 'destroy the establishment' connotation, and for that reason I don't consider myself an activist," says Saied Kashani '86, president of the Conservative Club.

Although Kashani may reject the activist label, his actions speak as loud as his words. His club has sponsored a speakers series and has hosted such guests as Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinburger '38 and two Central American contras.

Last year, when a wave of anti-apartheid activism was at its crest, the Conservative Club invited South African diplomat Abe S. Hoppenstein to a private reception. The Lowell House event precipitated a major demonstration that last week resulted in disciplinary action against 10 students.

Last month, the club sponsored an appearance by Paul Cameron, a Nebraska-based psychologist who advocates a quarantine of homosexuals, intravenous drug addiets, and prostitutes whose blood carries the virus that causes AIDS.

"It's our job to make sure one half of every issue is presented. Our mission is to make sure those presenting the conservative side are given a platform," Kashani explains.