In the early 1990s, the Civil Liberties Union of Harvard (CLUH) frequently fought for student rights--and won.

Although its membership never topped 35, CLUH claimed a string of victories on issues from ROTC to coed rooming to how students were represented before the Administrative Board.

More recently, however, CLUH's prominence and active voice on campus have diminished.

The organization's membership has decreased and the number of issues it has tackled has declined significantly.

In perhaps its only widely-noted step of the last two years, CLUH played a significant role in the establishment of rules and procedures regarding privacy on Harvard's computer network.

CLUH also took stands on other campus issues, opposing randomization of the first-year housing lottery and supporting Robert M. Hyman '98-'97 and Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 for Undergraduate Council president and vice president in the first-ever campuswide elections of those officers.

But the organization is still a long way from the time when the dean of the College would turn to CLUH for consultation on matters involving students' rights.

The Organization

Founded in 1986, CLUH is still dedicated its original goal of preserving civil liberties at Harvard.

"What CLUH has focused upon is taking the principles of civil liberty and applying them to a private university," says Jolyon A. Silversmith '94, former CLUH director and current president of the Harvard Law School Civil Liberties Union.

"It's important to have a group like CLUH that has an outside perspective and without partisanship," Silversmith says.

For example, CLUH has intervened when it felt University policy compromised students' rights, based on existing anti-discrimination laws.

CLUH tackled many such issues in the early 1990s.

The organization took an early stance on the ROTC issue, arguing in 1991 that the University should cut its ties to ROTC because of the military's discrimination against gays and lesbians.

After electronic locks were installed on the doors of Yard dorms in 1993, CLUH objected to University officials' ability to track students' activities, leading the Administrative Board to pass a new policy restricting the release of information recorded by students' electronic card keys.