McGuire said that many conservatives were upset at the lack of political balance between Guinier and Gore. The two are too close on the political spectrum, while Edelman and Powell embodied more of a liberal-conservative balance, students say.
"At least last year [the liberal leaning] was offset by Colin Powell," Campbell says.
But the conservatives seem to contradict each other on how well Guinier represents the political leanings of the College.
The speaker was chosen by a 25-member Senior Class Committee after considering responses from suggestion sheets distributed to members of the senior class.
Gannon says he isn't sure where the committee came up with the choice of Guinier.
"I am not happy, and I wonder who the people are on the panel that chose her," Campbell says. "I can't even conceive of the discussions of the committee that chose her and I am going to try and prevent such foolishness for my own graduation."
But others concede that Guinier's liberalism may represent the consensus of the College better than their own.
"It is not a liberal shift, it is the status quo," McGuire says.
Salient staff member Torben H. Botts '94 says the choice of Guinier's marks no move to the left in a campus already as liberal as possible.
"I am not sure how much this school can do to shift to the left," he says.
But despite their outrage, the conservatives seem unlikely to take to the streets with placards and bullhorns.
"I'm naturally averse to protest, and anyway, the choice itself is its own testimony to stupidity," Campbell says.
If right-leaning students do protest, they say, it will likely be more restrained than most.
"I am planning to have a group of people express their dissatisfation stridently but quietly," Cole says.
If conservatives do demonstrate at Guinier's speech, Gannon says, it will partially be a reaction to last year's Powell protest.
"I don't think conservatives will protest Lani Guinier, but if we do it would simply be to point out how silly the protests were last year," Gannon said.