Forsyth says he hangs out at the Phoenix and reads the newspaper there. Forsyth says he believes that barring women is discriminatory, "but I don't think it's inherently wrong."

"You can make the argument that they're elitist, but I'm a scholarship student. And I went to public school," says Forsyth, who rows crew and is also involved in the Crimson Key Society and Model United Nations.

There are also those students who prefer the party scene commonly found at large state universities with thriving fraternity and sorority systems. These students readily complain about the infrequency and dullness of parties on campus. Still, others enjoy the laid-back atmosphere and do-it-yourself social life Harvard has to offer.

Undergraduate Council Chairman Brian C. Offutt '87 of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, says he would favor the establishment of fraternities and sororities at Harvard. "It is a way for people to feel a part of something," he says. "It's like formalized friendship."

Yet, most students prefer the low-pressure atmosphere Harvard has to offer. A typical Saturday night might be spent with a group of one's most intimate friends.

Most students agree that drugs, though readily available, are not as prevalent as on other college campuses. Despite efforts last year by the administration to crack down on underage drinking, one can always find a party with alcohol, and some bars in the Square are known to be less than religious when it comes to carding.

"It's not like schools I've visited where each fraternity has a keg every night," says Daniel Elbaum '87 of Quincy House and Providence, R.I. But he adds, "There's plenty to do on the Harvard campus, and there's certainly plenty to do in Cambridge and Boston."

"An overwhelming majority" of Harvard students have tried drugs, says Dr. Randolph Catlin, chief of mental health services at University Health Services. He attributes the use of drugs to the enormous pressure Harvard puts on its students. "They sometimes take drugs or alcohol to get some relief," he says.

The urban surroundings offer some students more than just a place to go on a Saturday night. For some Harvardians, working with area school children or in homeless shelters is an opportunity to concentrate their attention on someone other than themselves, a vice all too often associated with Harvard students.

"It seemed like a good way to get to know Cambridge," says Moan, who is involved with Phillips Brooks House programs and Currier House's Big Brother program. "It's a side of life you don't get to see as just a student."

Other Harvard students occupy their spare time with pressing political issues of the day, namely divestment of Harvard's $416 million of investments in South Africa-related corporations.

"There's a group of a few hundred kids who are very active in politics," says Noah M. Berger '89, a member of the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC), a group of divestment activists who constructed a shantytown in the Yard last April.

"With a few exceptions, most of the people who are political are liberal or progressive, with a few nutty conservatives," Berger says. The Cambridge native is also vice president of the Democratic Club and organizer of Students for Bachrach, which campaigns for State Sen. George Bachrach. Bachrach is battling Joseph P. Kennedy II for the the Eighth Congressional District seat, a post once occupied by Kennedy's uncle John F. Kennedy '40 and now held by Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr.

Although Harvard remains a haven for America's liberal youth, many think the student activism of today lacks the fervor of the war protests of the 1960s. "Some people call it yuppification," says Offutt, who, in his tenure as chairman of the council, favored a depoliticized student government. "Students are more interested in their grades and careers."

Many Harvard students come here planning to try a host of extracurriculars and maintain a grade point average that will win them spots in Harvard Med or jobs with Morgan Stanley in four years. Many Harvard students change those plans.