Marc L. Goodheart, special assistant toPresident Rudenstine, has refused to comment.Rudenstine could not be reached for comment.

Different Issues

The issues today surrounding ROTC arefundamentally different from the issues in 1969.Then, students sought to abolish ROTC entirely.Now, students seek to end discrimination withinthe program.

"Today, it's about a policy within themilitary," says L. Fred Jewett'57, dean of theCollege. "By and large, it's not that people areopposed to having ROTC, it's that certain peopleare excluded."

Nevertheless, ROTC is once again a source ofdivision on campus. A few hundred studentsprotested the University's ties to ROTC whenHarvard announced Gen. Colin L. Powell, thenChairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff, as the 1993Commencement speaker.

Student protesters saw the Unversity'sinvitation to Powell as a tacit approval of themilitary's policy.

Clinton's election quieted protesters for awhile, but since his August 1993, "don't ask,don't tell" policy statement, ROTC opponents oncampus have been rethinkig their tactics andgathering speed.

"When I was here freshman and sophomore year,[ROTC] was very much discussed. I guess it hasdied down over the past few years," says Dennis K.Lin'96-'94, co-chair of the Bisexual, Gay andLesbian Students Association (BGLSA).

"Once Clinton got elected, people thought thatClinton would lift the ban, because he promisedduring the campaign," says Lin, who criticizesRudenstine for the delay in cutting financial tiesto the MIT program this year. "Then, last summer,when people saw that wasn't going to lift the ban,momentum picked up again."

And the momentum on campus picked up yet againthis week, when the BGLSA and the Civil LibertiesUnion at Harvard (CLUH) sponsored a posteringcampaign to make students aware that about $20 oftheir tuition goes toward ROTC fees.

A member of Harvard ROTC believes that ROTCwould be hurt if Harvard withdrew support.

"For Army ROTC, the top of the cadet chain ofcommand is all from Harvard," says Curtis L.Pierce II '94, cadet sergeant major of the ArmyROTC MIT battalion. "It would hurt the programwithout Harvard."

And one administrator says ROTC's criticsshould not lose sight of its benefits.

"One thing to think about with ROTC is that itis a source of free education," Young says. "I'vealways thought you can do more good if you staywith what's happening than if you hide in a cave,if we can say, damn it, we stand for this, ratherthan sit back and let things happen."

Another Harvard professor who was here 1969sees the new tenor of the ROTC debate as anindication how society has changed.