"Now when I see a Harvard student walking around in a military uniform, I feel like a second-class citizen," says Chad S. Johnson `89, a tutor in Leverett House who recently organized Group United Against ROTC Discrimination (GUARD) to lobby the administration. "If it were some minority group other than gay people, Harvard would not associate itself with ROTC.]"

"There are people who say that by severing ties with ROTC Harvard is going to discriminate against cadets," adds Johnson. "If one believes that's discrimination, this is still the more offensive type of discrimination."

Johnson says that the program not only discriminates against gays and lesbians but also penalizes cadets who discover they are homosexual during their stints with ROTC.

"[The gay students] were asked to pay back thousands of dollars of ROTC funds. I couldn't believe the military was doing this," he says. "[Gay] ROTC students either choose to be closeted or they come out and are given a financial penalty."

Johnson and Mather House tutor Roland L. Dunbrack `85--a member of the faculty student committee studying the issue--seem to be at the center of the movement to sever ties with ROTC. Sand L. Dubowski '92 and Sandy Cavazos '92, who are co-chairs of the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Student association (BGLSA), referred questions about their group's position to Johnson.

In response to student indifference and a recent Undergraduate Council vote in favor of a status quo plan presented by McCormack, Johnson and Dubowski say their groups will be mounting a coordinated campaign to inform the community about the issue.

Student groups such as the BGLSA and the Harvard Civil Liberties Union plan to coordinate a springtime campaign with GUARD to pressure Harvard to sever its last remaining ties with the reserve corps.

"The shape of things to come will dictate what means we use," says Dubowski. "I think it's really going to heat up in the spring."

And it is the possibility of a vocal response that has many ROTC students concerned about the future. The students fear that the fiery rhetoric over scholarship money and gay rights will overshadow the value of a military training program.

"The people who oppose ROTC are very vocal; the silent majority that supports the status quo is silent," says McCormack.

But Johnson vows to fight until the end on this issue. "The number of injustices one discovers when you get involved in this movement keeps you going."