In the years since 1969, student activists on Harvard's campus have had a tough act to follow.

To the chagrin of many, few issues championed by activist groups (like the anti-war movement of the era) can culminate so memorably in events like the forcible ejection of deans from their University Hall offices.

But even disregarding this famous episode in Harvard's history, student activists admit that exacting social change at Harvard can no longer be accomplished through the traditional mixture of noisy protests and rallies.

This past week's Democracy Teach-In, a week-long series of activism-based events and speeches that occurred simultaneously at more than 110 colleges, reflects an attempt to reinvigorate campus activism, albeit not the "in-your-face" activism characteristic of the '60 s, or even the randomization or ethnic studies protests of several years ago.

With the task of furthering activist causes complicated by differing conceptions of what it means to be an activist, leaders find themselves asking how best to motivate increasingly busy and disinterested students to accomplish activist goals through non-traditional measures.

Down From the Soap Box

Though rallies, protests and sit-ins often exemplified the activism of the past, leaders say that the effectiveness of those measures today has waned tremendously.

Kamil E. Redmond '99, a member of the Undergraduate Council and UNITE!, who is well-known for her own attempts to push for increased Faculty diversity, says that some fault for this rests with the progressive activists themselves.

"We are too loud and we are too pushy," she says. Unfortunately, she says, "students are disinterested in soap box activism."

Speaking from the other side of the ideological divide, Adam R. Kovacevich '99, who led the movement to retain grapes in the dining hall, agrees that confrontational activism is becoming less effective.

"There's been a backlash against in-your-face activism," he says. "If you have too many freedom rallies, they lose their effect."

RAZA President Sergio J. Campos '99 says he is often unimpressed by aggressive forms of activism.

"I personally get turned off from activism that becomes dogmatic and overbearing," he says.

According to Frank J. Gorke '99, a student activist involved with planning the Democracy Teach-Ins, this sort of back-lash is even present in some activists and has led to a more moderate activist front.

"It seems obvious that that sort of loud activist presence is not a presence anymore," Gorke says. "[We're] more internally focused."