Padilla says the liberal atmosphere on campus fosters a false sense of diversity.

"Here, my ethnicity is so important, like I'm supposed to express it all the time or something. People will say, 'We need you, we need a Hispanic here,' but when I worked for [House Majority Leader] Dick Armey's office this summer, I never felt like I was out of place even though I was the only Hispanic," he says.

Padilla says his rooming group consists of students from Greek, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, African-American, Peruvian and Honduran backgrounds but was the result of friendship rather than any concerted effort toward diversity.

It was this idea of a color-blind society which attracted Padilla to the Republican Party in the first place, he says.

"The Republican Club [on campus] doesn't keep track of the ethnicities of its members because it just doesn't care. It has never crossed their minds," Padilla says.

Kid Gloves

Padilla decries what he saw as a lack of administrative response when found the swastika.

"I went to Dean [of Students Archie C. Epps III], my house masters and my senior tutor and asked them if any action could be taken, and nothing was done," Padilla says.

"They seemed like they wanted to be helpful, but there was not much they could do.... They said they'd get on it, but nothing ever happened," he says.

Epps says administrators have limited power to respond to incidents like the swastikas found by Padilla and Mitby.

"In the case of speech, we are constrained to respond with speech and thus to recognize the right of expression of anyone along the political spectrum," Epps says.

According to Epps, the administration can only act if there is repeated harassment or posters that incite violence against an individual.

Some students charge that the administration sacrifices discipline for diversity when responding to conservative-bashing.

"[Administrators] use their kid gloves on things which really don't affect the administration. They're trying to prove that they're diverse...but in the process, they're forgetting to include everyone," Padilla says. "They forget that someone who's conservative could be oppressed as well."

"[Administrators] figure there's not enough support on the Harvard campus for these conservative groups," says Harvard Republican Club President Travis D. Wheatley '99. "They figure it won't get into the media and there won't be any loss of Harvard's reputation."