The group even considered giving males theright to vote at RUS meetings. That plan, however,was eventually voted down this spring.

Now two women's groups, Seventh Sense andRadcliffe and Harvard Students for EqualityFeminism (RHSEF), have cropped up in an attempt tofill the void left by the newly apolitical RUS.

Seventh Sense, a women's group that had fadedout of existence years before, pledges to providea place where women could discuss women's issues.Careful not to label itself as either a politicalor feminist group, the organization hopes tobecome an alternative to RUS.

"Since the RUS has largely become a fundingorganization, and especially with the question ofadmitting men into the RUS, we thought it wastime" to restart seventh Sense, says AshwiniSukthankar '95, a former RUS secretary who lostthis spring's elections for the union'spresidency.

The new group would be a "springboard tostimulate feminist activity,' Sukthankar says.

Last month, RHSEF was founded to stimulatediscussion about feminist issues among both menand women. Rebecca M. Boggs '95, who startedRHSEF, says her group, too, wants to fill a voidin campus debate by focusing on what itsorganizers call "equality feminism."

Equality feminism "looks at men and women asindividuals first, and then as members of a gendergroup," according to Boggs. She says the group isnot a "party-line organization" and will notadvance a specific agenda.

But neither RHSEF not Seventh Sense hasattracted significant numbers of members orserious campus attention.

In fact, all of thewomen's groups seeking recognition at Harvard arealike in two respects: they have taken cautiousapproaches, and have met with failure.

Those two facts may suggest that moreconfrontational tactics are needed if futureappeals for change are to meet with success