In the spring of 1991, Bridget I. Kerrigan '91 grabbed national headlines--and the ire of many students--when she hung a confederate flag from her Kirkland House window. National columnists focused on Kerrigan's assertion of free expression, and used her example to expound against the tyranny of political correctness.

In the fall of 1992, Peninsula's special issue on homosexuality triggered an angry backlash from liberal and gay groups. The BGLSA responded with a rally on the steps of Memorial Church denouncing the publication. Editors from the liberal monthly Perspective faced off against their Peninsula counterparts in an Institute of Politics debate before a capacity audience in the Starr Auditorium.

This semester, Thomson Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53 did his part to cleave the campus along ideological lines. Mansfield, the conservative icon of Harvard's predominantly liberal Faculty, linked the admissions office's affirmative action policies with grade inflation at Harvard.

The controversy over the choice of Gen. Colin L. Powell to speak at Commencement today may further bolster conservative forces on campus, some students say. Vocal outcries against Powell's position on the military's ban on gays may alienate students who are indifferent, or who are ardent Powell supporters. "Many seniors are concerned about their Commencement being disrupted by the protests of liberals," Woods says.

Boyle points out that her club has been contacted for comment by The Washington. Post and The Associated Press, as well as The Crimson and Harvard Magazine.

"Our official stance is that we're elated he's coming and we support his ban on gays in the military," Boyle says.

Even some of the organizations less likely to be activist have joined the campaign to support Powell's visit. According to Christopher B. Brown '94, one of its members, "The Conservative Club is mostly a discussion group."

"Our purpose is more ideological and less partisan," Brown says. "We want to promote conservatism as a coherent social and political policy."

Yet this "less partisan" club postered in support of Powell, and urged Powell supporters to call President Neil L. Rudenstine, Brown says.

Throughout the months-long Powell debate, campus liberals have remained strangely silent. Instead of trying to rally around the issue, blanket liberal groups like the College Democrats have placed the burden of protest on smaller special-interest groups such as the BGLSA.

Unwelcome Conservatives

Despite their pivotal role in shaping campus debate, conservative students still complain about Harvard's liberalism. Students on the right side of the political spectrum complain about the false origins of the College's liberal reputation, attributing the extent of campus liberalism to students' desire to win social acceptance in a liberal environment.

"I think a pretty large majority of the Harvard campus is liberal, but I would say quite a number of those people are liberal because everyone else is," says Brian E. Malone '96, a member of the Republican Club and a writer for Peninsula. "I think a lot of it is 'peer pressure liberalism.""

"People who don't have particularly strong convictions either way take the path of least resistance, which would involve being liberal here at Harvard," Woods agrees.

This widespread adoption of liberal views can turn into large-scale hostility, say conservative students, who detail ways in which their views have made them feel unwelcome.