While the Democratic party remains the primary representative of the left on a national level, campus liberalism seems to be fragmented among a variety of groups and causes, leaving the Harvard-Radcliffe College Democrats much weaker than their national counterparts.

Although more than 300 students on campus "have paid their dues at one time or another," according to the group's former President Eric S. Olney '98, members of the organization estimate that they currently have fewer than 50 active members.

While leaders of the College Democrats did not explicitly say that they saw a difficulty in drawing members, they did say that factors such as a largely apolitical campus, and high levels of overlap with other groups make strengthening the group a challenge.

Furthermore, they say these problems are not unique to Harvard, and face college Democratic clubs across the nation.

"It's a selfish time. That's not to say that people aren't willing to give themselves, but they're not as willing to do it politically and they're not as willing to do it in general anymore," says Olney, who added that in his estimation, there "might be five schools" in the country that have a higher membership than the Harvard club.

But even so, independent campus observers say they don't see the College Democrats as the preeminent liberal group on campus.

"I don't think that at the moment the College Democrats are the group a lot of people on the left identify with," says Daniel J. Hopkins '00, managing editor of Perspective, Harvard-Radcliffe's liberal monthly.

A Unique Role?

This month, the College Democrats have staged three major events, organizing a speech by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, coordinating a discussion with Professor of Government and Sociology Theda Skocpol and co-sponsoring the recent discussions on race led by the Institute of Politics. These events have attracted between 15 and 40 people each.

But these functions are also performed by other organizations which are able to devote more resources to these tasks.

The Institute of Politics (IOP), for example, brought Reich to speak earlier this year, and brings in prominent Democrats on an almost weekly basis.

"The IOP definitely does harm involvement with the [political party] clubs, but we've also put on a lot of successful events together," says Michael J. Passante '99, president of the College Democrats, who is also a member of the Student Affairs Committee (SAC) at the IOP. "We try to cooperate with other campus groups rather than viewing it as competition."

According to William P. Moynahan '99, vice-chair of SAC, while the IOP and the Democrats often cooperate, they perform different roles.

"The IOP is able to help the [Democrats] by providing a structure in which to bring in speakers, but ultimately the College Democrats' success depends on their ability to promote their ideological message on campus. The IOP, on the other hand, works to bring students into the political process while being less concerned about their ideological beliefs," says Moynahan, who is a Crimson executive.

But the best opportunities for promoting Democratic beliefs come in election years, making it challenging for the Democrats to retain a stable membership base.