Lipkin says that while his undergraduate years were a very trying time as students dealt with the war, the draft and a pair of assassinations, "threats that face students today are not as immediate."

Zaslavsky agrees. "There is no anti-war movement, and therefore the political activism is less militant and confrontational, which, to me, is progress," he says.

Still, change comes slowly at Harvard, and alumni identify the threat of institutional inertia as the University's greatest challenge.

"Unfortunately, the self-importance and basic elitist flavor of Harvard is one thing that has not changed," Zaslavsky says.

"There are both positive and inevitable changes," he says. "Institutions change because they have to.

"Hopefully, the people around Harvard and Radcliffe are smart enough to realize that it doesn't help to wait until change is forced down your throat," he says.

Lee says delaying change has its costs, but he adds that when the change does come at Harvard, "It takes root and holds."

Lipkin would contend that there are some needed changes yet to be addressed by the administration.

"I don't know that the course offerings right now reflect what they could in terms of gender and gay and lesbian studies," he says.

"But we are moving forward," he adds. "The Afro-American Studies Department provides a challenging model for us to move forward, through encouraging and supporting gay and lesbian research and scholarship."

Above all, however, the alumni who have returned to Harvard and Radcliffe exude a pride in their connection to the University, and in their roles in maintaining, even furthering, the quality of education offered by the institution.

"When I was an undergraduate, someone told me that the value of my degree in 25 years would depend on Harvard's role in the world then," says Koivumaki. "I am proud to be working here, trying to maintain the excellence we exhibit in 1993."

Echoing Koivumaki's sentiments. Cook says that he sees his loyalty to Harvard as something of a restitution for what he gained from his undergraduate experience.

Even more than restitution, the question of esteem remains for members of the class of 1968 who have returned to pursue careers at Harvard Radcliffe.

For Lee and his classmates, familiarity does not breed contempt. "The more I've been affiliated with Harvard, the more respect I have for the quality of the Harvard experience."