"Radcliffe is over, throw us a bone," Redmond says.

Over the last year, there has been a large push from women's groups and from the council to create a women's center where groups could congregate, distribute informative literature, gather with other women and perhaps stay at night if they don't feel comfortable returning to their rooms.

But space is a rare commodity at Harvard, and there is little consensus about where the women's center would be located. Kate B. Clancy '01 suggests the middle of the Yard.

" I'd put it in the middle of the Yard so that people walking by it everyday would know that Harvard is actively interested in women," Clancy says.

Yet, the women's center seems an unlikely possibility. College administrators have been reluctant to endorse the idea for a center that would only serve females.

While the Faculty prepared to vote last spring on the dismissal of two students who were convicted of rape, much of the campus was abuzz about the threat of sexual violence at Harvard.

Many activists say they still do not feel the campus is safe, and they urge the administration to take sexual violence seriously.

"I've become much more involved this year after the high profile campus rapes," says David B. Orr '01, a member of the council who has sponsored several bills dealing with gender issues. "I was amazed no one was dealing with women's issues."

He adds, "Part of the issue of sexual violence is that the students at the University don't appreciate the size of the problem."

Still Relevant?

Even as activists on campus unite in their feminist cause, some question whether the movement is still necessary today--both at Harvard and in society at large--at a time when women have gained so many opportunities.

"Feminism today is absolutely important, as most women's issues effect everyone, as they involve

equality, fairness, and family," Orr says. "But it's also important to recognize the progress that's been made."

The majority of students believe that the feminist movement was beneficial to the advancement of women. The Crimson's poll showed that 65 percent of those questioned agree that feminism has been good for the advancement of women, and only 8 percent disagree or strongly disagree.

But many worry that students think feminism is only a thing of the past.

"'Feminism is dead,' say leaders. But I'm saying gender is relevant," Redmond says. "There is an active need here. As a society we are becoming increasingly stagnant."