College Dems Try to Hold Onto Campus Liberals

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.

"Involvement in all political clubs is cyclical....The campaigns really get started near the end of next semester, and membership will definitely balloon then," Passante says.

When campaign season is off, however, the Democrats must struggle to attract and maintain members by performing other functions.

The Democrats maintain continuity through their summer internship program and community service activities, but in both respects the group has found itself overshadowed by larger organizations with more resources.

While the Democrats match students with internships with Democratic political officials in Washington, New York and California, they cannot provide stipends for these opportunities--unlike the IOP, which doles out more than $60,000 to about 30 students it selects who are pursuing governmental internships.

The Democrats' community service efforts have also been undermined by other groups. Alysson R. Ford '00, former director of the community service committee, resigned from the post several months ago, saying that the Democrats were not able to carve out a niche separate from Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA).

"I resigned from my position as chair of the community service committee because I was disappointed by the lack of interest College Democrats expressed in the one-time service opportunities I and the committee organized. I had hoped that we would be able to fulfill a role not served by [PBHA], namely providing opportunities for people to volunteer who couldn't make a weekly service commitment," she says.

Triumph of Conservatism?

In a year where campus politics has been marked by a movement away from the left, some students attribute the Democrats' difficulties attracting members to declining numbers of Democrats on campus.

"This year, with Beth Stewart's election [as president of the Undergraduate Council] and the grape vote, there's definitely a feeling that conservative or pragmatic forces are in ascendancy," Hopkins says.

But even though everyone from Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III on down has trumpeted liberalism's decline, campus activists feel the student body is still mostly liberal.

"We have a large segment of the student body that's sympathetic to Democratic causes," Passante says.

Furthermore, conservative political groups seem to have equal trouble attracting students.

"Even though there may be more conservatives on campus now," says D. Britt Bolen '00, the managing editor of the conservative Salient, "the Salient still has a small staff."

"The Republican clubs definitely have a harder time than we do," Passante says.

General political apathy, therefore, rather than Republicanism, may be the force taking its toll on Democratic involvement.

"The campus is becoming more apathetic in general as opposed to becoming more moderate," Bolen says.

Olney suggests that students are just less motivated to become politically involved.

"Look at what graduating seniors do. Nobody goes in the Peace Corps, nobody goes to work for the government. They go to Wall Street, they go to L.A. to work for consulting. I think that's the perfect indicator of where people's interests are."

Issues-Based Activism

Campus liberal sentiment may also be taking a different form, according to political group leaders.

"Liberalism in the student body doesn't translate into a desire to get involved politically anymore. I think students these days, mostly because of trends in society as a whole, are decidedly apolitical," Olney says.

Students who once would have rallied around candidates now rally around activities like volunteering.

"Since there's some disillusionment with politics nowadays, I think some people try to channel their activism into community service activities," Passante says.

Over the past several years, ethnic student groups have become more involved in community service and smaller community service groups like Harvard-Radcliffe Little People have sprung up, while PBHA's 1700 student membership has remained constant.

Hopkins adds that liberals, who are increasingly drawn to work in "very focused areas," have also turned to the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) to target specific issues.

In the past year, PSLM (which became part of PBHA last semester) has participated in protests of Guess? and protested at the Business School, putting pressure on a professor who sits on the board of the Cardinal Health Corporation. PSLM opposed the pharmaceutical distribution company's treatment of striking workers.

Fragmented Liberalism

In this new, fragmented liberalism, the College Democrats seem to have lost their position of pre-eminence as a political rallying point.

"In terms of on campus events, I don't really hear [the Democrats'] name a lot in liberal circles," Hopkins says.

Despite their efforts to branch out, the efforts of the College Democrats remain focused on politics off the campus and in the campaign room. "Our main niche is campaigns," Passante says. "We're the only organization on campus I know of that actively puts people in political campaigns, and that's probably our main selling point."

But in an increasingly fragmented and pragmatic campus culture, it is unclear whether this role will ever be as large as it once was.

"Although I think there is a population here that is genuinely interested in the broad political world, I think that the Beth Stewart election, at least, is testament to the fact that...people do construct their interests fairly narrowly and want things that relate to themselves," Hopkins says.