Choi says she thinks that limited leadership opportunities disenchanted students lessened student interest in the group.

"We thought the key difference between the IOP and other student organizations is that other groups gave students the ability to become more entrepreneurial, and give more of a leadership role, and much more real responsibility," Choi says.

Executive director Cathy McLaughlin is the longest serving staff at the IOP. She says in the past few years, the IOP has proved less able to get students excited about politics.

McLaughin says the decrease in student participation has come at a time when SAC has evolved from an open center for student politicos to a group without ability to reach out and inspire students to become involved in politics.

She says that when she came here eight years ago, the IOP was a haven for student groups on campus, and a place that reached out to all undergraduates.

She says she disapproves of SAC's focus on internal bureaucratic issues, rather than outreach efforts for the Harvard undergraduate community as a whole.

"In years past, SAC was really a service to students to inspire them in politics," McLaughlin recalls. "[SAC was] an outward looking group who surveyed students, found things that interested the undergraduate body and searched for a political bend to campus affairs that would involve particular organizations."

Political events at that time, says McLaughlin, were a big success because students from all corners of the campus found their interests represented alongside the mission of the IOP.