The disagreement, however, does not involve the Blue and the Gray. Rather, it revolves around efforts to memorialize the 64 University graduates who died fighting for the Confede, ate States of America during the Civil War.

Such a memorial has been talked about for decades, but the debate on the issue has resurfaced with the recent renovations of Memorial Hall.

Last December, the Board of Overseers was presented with a proposal from the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) for a memorial. It seemed likely to pass until a last-second barrage of opposition by black student groups caused the Overseers to send the proposal back to the HAA.

As a result, the future of the memorial seems unclear, leaving prominent members of the University community divided over a racially-charged issue.

History

In 1910, Harvard Magazine ignited debate on the issue of the University's Confederate war dead, by expressing the hope that the soldiers would soon be honored in Memorial Hall. In response, readers flooded the magazine with letters both for and against the construction of such a memorial.

As a result of the debate, the Harvard Memorial Society decided that a memorial should wait until there was virtual unanimity on the issue.

This controversy has been recently revived by the renovations to Memorial Hall, which prompted some to wonder if now is the time to honor the Confederate war dead.

But the original deed of Memorial Hall, which was donated by alumni in memory of the Union war dead, prevents the commemoration of the Confederate alumni there.

Thus, a proposal evolved to honor the soldiers in Memorial Church, which has been followed by a plan suggesting a memorial listing all of the University's Civil War fatalities there.

Such a plan has already been put into effect at Princeton University, and has been endorsed by Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Minister in the Memorial Church Peter J. Gomes as a fitting tribute for the soldiers.

In an article in the May-June 1995 issue of Harvard Magazine, the magazine solicited comments from alumni on behalf of the HAA, which had formed an ad hoc committee including past HAA presidents and Gomes, to consider the issue.

In that article, Robert N. Shapiro '72, the chair of the HAA committee, stated, "A memorial would be constructed, if at all, only in a spirit of respect and reconciliation, and in dignified recognition of young lives lost."

According to Reardon, the vast majority of the letters were in favor of the memorial. And, as a result, in November it appeared the proposal was likely to pass.

Included in the discussion during the fall was the presence of the name of Adolph Sannwald on the south wall of Memorial Church. The plaque bears the inscription "enemy casualty."