Pink balloons stating "Lift the Ban" were all over the Yard, tied to wrists, chairs and strollers. A few of the faculty and administrators sitting on stage also had balloons.
Members of various campus gay, lesbian and bisexual student groups passed out the balloons, along with stickers, buttons and information packets, at Yard entry points.
"We're handing them to students as they come out of breakfast," said Marie Collamore, a Divinity School student giving out paraphernalia outside of Adams House. "Some people walk right past us and say 'absolutely not.' Others say 'give me more'."
Divinity School student Richard P. Taylor, standing at a back entrance to the Yard, said he had not run into hostility while distributing balloons. "A lot of people have been really kind," he said. "I'm energized at this point."
Some chose stickers and buttons rather than balloons. "In Eliot, people didn't think it was appropriate to bring balloons into the chapel, so [none of the Eliot seniors have] balloons," said Eliot Master Kristine L. Forsgard, wearing a "Lift the Ban" sticker on her sash. "But there's lots of support."
Jane H. Silver, wife of George A. Silver '58, was one of the first to obtain a sticker, which she pasted to the top of her straw hat. "It isn't just the Class of '68 who's radical," she said.
But Leora Aster, who attended to see her brother Shawn Z. Aster '93 graduate, said she saw Powell's speaking primarily as a free-speech issue.
Aster, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, said that free speech had been the dominant issue of the year at her campus, especially for The Daily Pennsylvanian, where she is the assistant editorial chair.
This spring, 14,000 issues of the paper were removed from distribution sites by members of a minority student organization who said they felt a columnist was insensitive.
"I think he should be allowed to speak," said Aster. "I don't want to protest. I wouldn't voice my opinion in this way."
A non-balloon-holding senior who wished to remain anonymous also supported Powell's right to speak at Harvard.
"Obviously I don't know Colin Powell's heart of hearts, but I don't think he's for the ban because he hates gay people," said the senior. "I hope very much that people won't be disruptive during the speech."
Others carried balloons or sported stickers but refused to interject their voices into the ceremonies.
"I think we shouldn't honor his military," said Tracy Grickscheit '93, who had briefly loaned her balloon to a friend. "But I want him to be able to speak. I won't impede his ability to speak."
Despite the heavy publicity they garnered from national and international media, those protesting Powell appeared at least momentarily upstaged by Law School students protesting Dean Robert C. Clark and calling for greater faculty diversity at the school.
A plane which flew over Tercentenary Theatre during the morning graduation exercises trailed a banner reading "NO DICE," the acronym for a student group calling itself "No Dollars Into Clark's Endowment."