Seniors asked in a recent poll to describe their class were stumped. Many students--sounding a bit like admissions materials--say the class is rather like other Harvard classes: "unique, diverse, talented, exciting, stressed."

But from the perspective of one student, Edward H. Wu '96, the Class of 1996 is "infamous," referring to the string of tragedies, traumas and arrests that has befallen this particular group of students.

But in this survey of about 90 seniors, the majority of responses downplayed the significance of the big news events in their Harvard experience.

"It sobered me up about how precious life can be," Marsha A. Elbourne '96 says.

Most students say University politics and the ups and downs of four years of college were more significant in defining their Harvard experience.

A Lacerated Community

The Class of 1996 entered a Harvard community lacerated by controversy over race, gender and minority issues.

Racial unrest in the 1992-1993 year came in many forms.

The Class of 1996 entered with the lowest number of black students since 1972. The statistics reflected discontent already present on the campus. During that school year, the Black Students' Association distributed a flyer titled, "On the Harvard Plantation," which summarized black students' complaints about the University.

Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III was appointed race relations "czar" to assuage racial tensions and address minority concerns within the College, employing the aid of the Harvard Foundation for Race and Intercultural Relations.

The school also dealt with racial tension in the Harvard University Police Department when an officer was accused of racial harrassment.

Gender issues arose in an examination of the definition of date rape, and procedural changes were made in how the College handles date rape cases.

Another prominent social issue was the controversy over the prohibition of participation by gay students in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program and whether the University should continue to pay MIT for the program.

Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53 was at the forefront of all of these controversies, reprimanding the administration for assuming a liberal position on the matters. Mansfield also alleged that a link exists between affirmative action and grade inflation.

Student Life Changes

But the survey indicates that changes in student life--particulary randomization and renovations--have impacted students more than any social issues.

Many seniors say they are upset that they were not more of a part of renovations of the Yard dormitories.

And although present seniors had four years of a remodeled Science Center Green-house, nothing can curb seniors' almost unanimous distress that a renovated Memorial Hall and Loker Commons opened so late.

But the Class of '96 was blessed in other ways. In 1992 and again this year, this year's seniors witnessed Harvard defeat the Elis in the all-important Harvard-Yale football game.

Justin E. Franz '96 recalls this year's victory and the crowd's storming the field as his most memorable experience at Harvard.

The triumph and joy on the football field come in somber contrast to the defeat within the dorms. The murder-suicide in Dunster House just over a year ago left not only Harvard but also the nation shocked and bewildered by the unexpected deaths of promising students.

A less tragic but equally disillusioning event was the arrest of two Currier House seniors for the possession and sale of drugs.

Even though, as Lisa Muggridge '96 points out, "Anyone who thinks [drug use] doesn't exist is blind," the bust served to seal the class's "infamous" reputation.

Although the Class of 1996 was so frequently a part of the headlines, seniors say their experience at Harvard has been shaped by their interactions with their roommates and classmates, their personal activities and goals.

The members of the Class of 1996, like their predecessors, will miss their friends. They will miss the bustling Square. They will miss the intellectually conducive atmosphere. And they will miss not having to worry about the "real world," not having to prepare their own meals and not holding "real" jobs.

Likewise, they already have one foot out the door, poised to abandon the temperamental New England weather, overcrowded Core courses, the occasional typically Harvardian ego and the stress of work in general.

But still, even while resembling every other class that has passed through Harvard, according to one senior, the Class of 1996 "defies description."