One of Cambridge State Sen. Michael J. Barrett '70's first encounters with Saundra Graham occurred during his last moments as a Harvard undergraduate, when Graham and a group of her supporters broke up Commencement to protest Harvard's expansion into the Riverside neighborhood.

But 18 years have seen a lot of changes for Graham. She now holds seats in both the City Council and the State House. As a six-term state representative, she faces Barrett not as a demonstrator, but as a colleague.

When Graham began her political career, many viewed her as a radical activist, an outsider trying to give her constituency a voice against big developers. She recalls protesting the Vietnam War and aiding radical student groups such as the one that took over University Hall in 1969.

Barrett says that while Graham's tactics may have changed, her political agenda and her approach to problems remain the same in many ways.

"Saundra Graham is still an outsider, both in the city and the State House--in a good sense," says Barrett. "She is tough, aggressive. She still pounds the table for decent things. I have not seen her change."

But some of Graham's constituents feel that, in the process of gaining political power, Graham has lost touch with them. And they say that's why she lost this September's Democratic primary to Alvin E. Thompson.

Even her allies say that she is not as close to her constituents as she once was.

"I think this will be a chastening experience for her," says Barrett. "She must make herself more accessible."

Graham herself acknowledges that she has not been in close enough contact with her constituency. She attributes her loss last month to a lack of awareness of her accomplishments, and says she should have done more to inform her constituents of what she was doing.

By making local voters aware of her efforts inside the State House, Graham says she hopes to convince them that she is still actively working for them.

Many who see a changing relationship between Graham and her district point to the fact that she cast the decisive sixth vote to let MIT go ahead with its University Park development. Graham sided with the Council's five Independents to approve a rezoning proposal, on condition that MIT build 400 units of housing, 150 of them subsidized, as part of the development.

Graham defends her vote on the project, saying she got MIT to promise more housing than the activists hoped for. Rather than compromising, she says, she forced MIT to compromise.

William Cavellini, a leader of the Simplex Steering Commitee's campaign against the project, acknowledges that Graham extracted more housing from MIT, but says she neglected to consult the committee. For example, he says Graham did not tell him when the Community Development Department redefined the meaning of low-and moderate-income housing. When he pointed the change out to her, Cavellini says, "she just shrugged her shoulders."

"She was not in 100 percent communication with us, and I fault her for that," says Cavellini.

Cavellini says that while he believes Graham is committed to affordable housing, he finds her more inclined as a politician to make deals with developers.