A TRAGEDY OF APATHY

The world has stood by silently for the past year while the Serbian army has massacred Albanian civilians in the province of Kosovo. Like countless generations before us facing similar tragedies, we have not answered the cry of a persecuted people.

Thankfully, the administration has moved closer to the launch of air-strikes against Serb positions. In 1995, similar strikes helped bring about the lull in hostilities that allowed the negotiation of the Dayton Peace Accords. We hope that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic yields to diplomatic pressure, but if military force is necessary, so be it.   Oct. 7, 1998

NATO'S STRATEGY PROBLEM

The costs of this conflict, both in terms of resources and human life, are too great for the NATO countries to be satisfied with the rate of progress so far. Either a qualitative change is required in NATO strategy--military or diplomatic--or Clinton and the other NATO leaders must provide a cogent explanation of how the current strategy will lead to success.

Milosevic has yet to show signs of weakness, and there is little consensus on how to proceed. There is a strong sense of frustration and impatience with the NATO effort, and that frustration could have been avoided had Clinton and other NATO leaders offered a coherent set of objectives when the air strikes began in March.   May 4, 1999

IN A CLIMATE OF HATE

The Lowell House bells tolled 22 times Monday evening to commemorate the life of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming who last week was lured from a bar, brutally beaten and left to die.

For all the progress the nation has made in the nearly 30 years since the birth of the American gay rights movement in 1969, there remains a large and growing homophobia from coast to coast. According to a recent Gallup poll, 59 percent of Americans believe homosexual behavior is morally wrong. And last summer, Senate Majority Trent Lott (R-Miss.) compared homosexuals to Kleptomaniacs and alcoholics.

Of course, not all Republicans are homophobes. Yet it is profoundly disturbing that the party's leadership has so proudly stood up for its least tolerant and most hateful wing.

Blame for Shepard's death must first be laid at the feet of his assailants. Yet the homophobia that seems to be spreading like a plague through American society cannot be ignored. In this climate of intolerance, acts of violence against gays and lesbians are only more likely.

It is in this climate that this week's show of support on campus for gay rights, punctuated by the dozens of signs throughout Harvard Yard proclaiming gay pride, comes as a much-needed reminder that this generation will not give up--not until all Americans are guaranteed their lives, their liberty and their pursuit of happiness.   Oct. 14, 1998

KEEP ROTC OFF CAMPUS

Harvard students in the military's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program have not been able to take their classes on campus since 1969. Since then, cadets have had to travel to MIT to take their classes. Up until 1994, Harvard helped subsidize the MIT program, but now the University doesn't even do that; the military's don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays violates Harvard's anti-discrimination policy.

All this would change if a group of Undergraduate Council representatives have their way. A new bill would have the council express its support for bringing the program back to campus. We hope the council defeats the bill.