Republican Club Event Gets No Coverage

To the editors:

I was disappointed that The Crimson failed to cover the Harvard Republican Club’s (HRC) 115th Anniversary Celebration on Wednesday evening. The Crimson manages to write stories about an “intimate” gathering of Harvard Initiative for Peace and Justice students or a 10-person Students for Dean rally, but somehow, despite ample notice, The Crimson did not cover a 70-student black tie optional reception at the Faculty Club that attracted multiple conservative professors and a former Republican representative.

Founded on Friday, Nov. 2, 1888, The Harvard Republican Club is Harvard’s oldest political organization and the oldest collegiate Republican club in the nation. Our founding meeting drew 9,000 attendees from around the state and country.

President Abraham Lincoln’s son, Robert Lincoln, sent the HRC a personal telegraph expressing his enthusiasm for the newly formed club, and future president Theodore Roosevelt wrote to the new board, “I am more than glad to see Harvard College Republicans keeping Harvard where she belongs.” Now, 115 years later, the HRC continues to keep Harvard where she belongs, even if The Crimson would rather not write about us.

Mark T. Silvestri ’05

Nov. 6, 2003

The writer is secretary of the Harvard Republican Club.