Being a conservative at Harvard has always been a daunting task. But after February 25's Conservative Coming Out Dinner, it just may have gotten easier. Co-sponsored by Jews for Conservative Politics, the Harvard Republican Club, and the Salient, the event brought together several dozen undergraduates to a festive buffet dinner and celebration of ideological diversity. The dinner provided an opportunity for students to "come out" as conservatives to the Harvard community. It might prove to be the first step in a new brand of conservative campus activism.

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Reclaiming Our Femininity
Why women should consider a conservative take on feminism

Havard, like many institutions of higher learnng, is an incubator for radical and oft-times bizarre feminist theories. Out in the real world, however, conservative notions of femininity are beginning to make a comeback. 
        A salient title in bookstores this season is Wendy Shalit's A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue. A 23-year-old graduate of Williams College, Shalit radically champions old-fashioned ideas of female sexuality. She places much of the blame for sexual-harassment, eating-disorders, and date-rape on feminism's doorstep, claiming such problems are by-products of the movement's encouraging of promiscuity. The plight of American women, she says, can only be remedied by a revival of sexual restraint, good manners, and romantic idealism.

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Hillel's Right-Wingers
A revised JCP fights conservative defeatism 

Melissa "Missy" Langsam is a  familiar name to Harvard conservatives. Her frequent dissents on the Crimson editorial page, executive board position on the Harvard-Radcliffe Republican Club, and recent columns for the Independent have made her into a de facto leader of campus conservatives.
        Her most recent effort in the realm of campus politics has been the revival of Jews for Conservative Politics. The Hillel-affiliated group, founded in the spring of 1997, floundered until Langsam assumed the role of chairman in the fall. Since then, it has hosted numerous events, including lectures by Professors Ruth Wisse and Harvey Mansfield, as well as former congressional representative Susan Molinari and former Christie Todd Whitman staffer Marguerite Sullivan. Though some of the events did suffer from weak attendance, the Wisse and Mansfield lectures drew crowds both from within Hillel and from other segments of the Harvard community.

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