"While a lot of people are thinking about starting student groups and perhaps make initial steps for [self-interested] reasons, I think the people that actually step forward and grow student groups to a substantial size are motivated for the right reasons," he says.

Leaving a Legacy

In April, the Kuumba Singers, a group specializing in black gospel music, marked their 30th anniversary in a weekend of song and celebration.

At the time, Dennis W. Wiley '72, co-founder of Kuumba, spoke with pride about the group's durability.

"It was our dream that the group would survive, but [in the early 1970s] there was such subtle hostility toward acknowledging black cultural contributions to this society," he said. "We couldn't take for granted that something like this would survive at Harvard for 30 years."

Daniel M. Loss '00, who with Bom S. Kim '00 founded the Harvard Current, a newsmagazine circulated to over 100,000 college students nationwide, says the Current's long-term success is also important to him.

"Hopefully, many years down the line, we will be able to look and see that the Current is continuing to inform and interest all its readers nationwide, and that it is continuing to provide an outlet for student journalists at Harvard," Loss writes in an e-mail message.

Every year, about 10 student organizations become defunct, according to Cooke. The greatest factor in student group survival, she ways, is whether there is enough interest.