At a time when the world outside the gates of Harvard Yard was reacting to the Vietnam War, race relations and radical movements, the students of the class of 1973 followed suit.

"The world was totally imposed on our existence," says Jean C. "Carly" Moreno '73. "You inevitably confronted the issues, no matter what you believed in."

They arrived on campus in the wake of the spring 1969 takeover of University Hall, absorbing the lore of radicalism.

"When we arrived as freshmen in the Yard, all the upperclassmen were telling us about the bust that had happened the previous spring," says Richard C. Melvoin '73. "That was our introduction."

And by that spring, students were not only affected by faraway events like Nixon's Cambodian invasion or the Kent State protest but by an occurrence closer to home: the integration of Harvard and Radcliffe.

As their undergraduate years progressed, class members recall a general decrease in activism, a more coeducational experience, continuing racial tension and a little taste of the sexual revolution.

Activism

The class of 1973 had its moments of activism, from strikes in Boston, to protests on campus, to marches on Washington. Yet the classes before them were more active, and as the Vietnam War drew to a close, activism at Harvard entered its twilight.

Mirroring the proliferation of national activist groups, Harvard's students marched, protested and went on strike for various concerns.

Critical issues included the war in Vietnam, U.S. involvement in Cambodia, apartheid in South Africa and a stronger Afro-American studies department.

In February of 1972, roughly 50 black protesters, primarily students, occupied Mass. Hall to protest Harvard's investment in Gulf Oil Company, which operated in South Africa.

But the Harvard class of 1973 was not as radical as those of other universities, such as Kent State or Berkeley.

"We were on the tail end of the turbulent years on and around campus," says Richard H. Mitchell '73.

Alan P. Morse '73 chuckles when he recalls the letter his grandmother, a Radcliffe alum, wrote to the head of the Radcliffe student council, urging the students to "get out there and protest."

Morse says he views the activism that was there as a "me too affair."