At Commencement, however, the protests wereless forceful. With "Lifts the Ban" stickers ontheir mortarboards and pink and black balloons inhand, the students listened respectfully as Powellspoke.

Today's Protest

Changing times and different priorities havehelped engender the change in how studentsprotest, according to former and current studentsand administrators.

Many say that undergraduates have engaged inmore peaceful and practical protests since 1969because students fear the repercussions ofenacting social change by engaging in a forcefuldemonstration.

"Security is a very prized possession and tocause any uprising at Harvard is threatening for astudent's future," says Zaheer R. Ali' 94, formerpresident of the Black Students Association (BSA).

Student's pre-professional and economicconcerns are other reasons why many students donot participate in '60-s type activism.

"What was interesting was that students whorebelled were very wealthy," says Anne W. Pusey'69, daughter-in-law of President Nathan M. Pusey'28.

In fact, for the vast majority of thoseinvolved in the 1969 protest, money was not aconcern. Of the 300 students who stormedUniversity Hall, only one needed financial aid,according to Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III.

"Surely students have become much more moneyconscious," says Professor of Bibliography andLibrarian, Emeritus Douglas W. Bryant, whowitnessed the 1969 protests. "They didn't worry asmuch about jobs after college because there werejobs [during the 1960s and 1970s]."

Epps adds that today, students regard collegeprimarily as a training ground for a career andnot as place to engage in social action.

"People wanted to develop their philosophy oflife [in the 1960s]; now it's to gain mastery in afield, to get a job and be economically stable."

"Protests go with good times," he says. "We arestill in this recession-depression mode."

Demonstrations have also become lessconfrontational because students are usingalternative, less violent methods of protestingstudents say.

Hyewon T. Chong '95, a member of thepresident's council of the Minority StudentAlliance, says the alliance has sought other meansof protest, including sit-ins and teachins.

"Naturally sit-ins have been brought up becausea sit-in is a non-violent type of protest," saysChong, chair of the academic affairs committee ofthe Harvard Foundations for Intercultural andRace Relations.