"Community service can be a way of getting rid of guilt in some ways," Wuchinich says.

But Nelson sees this view as demeaning student efforts.

"In order to inflate the activist agenda, they're suggesting that...people who are doing community service are almost selfish," he says. "There is a marginalization in the activist community for those who do community service."

Where Do We Go From Here?

Overall, Campos says that the state of activism at Harvard remains in flux.

"We're at a cross road where we can go either way," he says.

With the issues of an ethnic studies department and college administration reform rearing their heads, activists admit there must be forward progress.

"I'd say we have our work more than cut out for us," Greenwood says.