We've always tried hard to have a balanced, non-partisan orientation program, and the Republicans may not have wanted that at that moment," said Steven R. Singer, a spokesperson at the Kennedy school. "The Republican leadership wanted a different kind of orientation, a specifically conservative orientation."

For many years, however, Republicans have said that the Kennedy School orientation program was for liberal Democrats only.

"I overheard conversations between Republican members who had attended the Harvard orientation, and they said they were disgusted by what they heard in a political sense," Berkowitz said. "They were hearing people tell them how to perpetuate a system that they thought was corrupt."

Keast said that Wicker decided to skip the Kennedy School's orientation program because of the traditional "liberal bias" present there.

"The Heritage program in Baltimore was just more compelling and interesting to Rep. Wicker," said Keast.

Berkowitz added that since Harvard has held its orientation program, public opinion of Congress has plummeted.

"Harvard has been tutoring incoming freshman members for 22 years and the performance of these members by acclamation, I mean everyone agrees, has been going from bad to worse, " Berkowitz said. "We didn't need any more training on how to make the country's affairs worse."

Instead of six days in Cambridge attending policy panels and lectures, the majority of the newly-elected Republican representatives spent three days in Baltimore listening to such prominent conservatives as Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition and radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh.

The Republicans' decision in November left the future of the Kennedy School orientation program in doubt.

Kennedy School officials said that if an orientation is held next year, it could be radically different from past orientations.

"We will work with the Republicans. Whether it takes the exact same form as the previous ones is still being debated," Singer said.

Despite the criticism from the republican congressional majority. Officials at the Kennedy School say they will not change their curriculum.

"an examination of our curriculum is based on the substantive needs of the students here, and not based on the political winds in Washington," Singer said.

"What we teach [at the Kennedy School] is not designed to be influenced by what happens in Washington," said roger B. Porter, IBM professor of business and government at the Kennedy School and a top aide to former President bush. "We teach how to be thoughtful and insightful policy makers, and that applies to both Democrats and Republicans."

Rising Role of think Tanks