American Notes HARVARD

When the Harvard-Radcliffe Undergraduate Council decided last month to allow the Reserve Officers Training Corps back on campus for the first time since its tumultuous ouster in 1969, the university's Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Student Association protested, arguing that the military discriminates against homosexuals. A week later, the council reversed itself.

That triumph two weeks ago was but one among several signs that gay power is burgeoning at Harvard. For the first time, an assistant dean, Jean Viggiani, has been delegated to deal with gay issues on campus. A tutor specializing in gay concerns has been assigned to each of Harvard's undergraduate houses. About 1,000 pink triangles offered to sympathizers for the Gay Awareness celebration were gone in a record three days.

Lesbian couples now appear at Radcliffe's formal Senior Soiree, and gays routinely dance together at Harvard events. That can sometimes lead to friction. In February a ruckus broke out when a gay student asked the younger brother of a straight student to dance. Gay students soon after staged a "kiss-in" to protest alleged harassment. Says Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian co-chair Kelly Dermody: "This year was wild."