Eric Langborgh

When it comes to politics at Harvard University, being a liberal usually places one above popular reproach. Not so in the case of Christopher King, whose Christian beliefs turned out to be more abhorrent than his opponent’s conservative leanings.

King—who kept his religion to himself but nonetheless was found out—lost in his bid to become the next president of the Undergraduate Council (UC) due in large part to a smear campaign that equated King’s belief in Christ with a hidden bigotry.

Said the Harvard Crimson in its published endorsement of his chief competition, "Their promise of ‘values-driven leadership’ is vague and worrisome; though King and [running-mate Fentrice] Driskell say they want to unify the campus, their ties to religious groups have raised concerns among many students."

"They came after the fact that I was a Christian," King told Campus Report. "This slap hurt me personally."

"I thought that the Crimson’s remarks detracted from the rest of the editorial," sympathized Noah Seton, King’s main competition in the UC presidential race and the eventual winner.

King also pointed to "cryptic, enigmatic statements" from the administration as fostering an anti-Christian atmosphere at Harvard. Of particular note was a statement from the Dean of Students, Archie C. Epps III.

"They’ve sort of been in their prayer rooms but now they are beginning to come out of the closet," said Epps. "I’ve thought for some time that religion would become a greater part of the campus because of the increase in the number of Christian groups on campus."

While never publicly proclaiming his religion, King nevertheless weathered insidious barbs from anti-Christian detractors, which the Crimson took as reason enough to withhold its endorsement from what had otherwise been a popular campaign.

The charges were leveled against King by some unknown students who placed posters on every freshman’s door. By misrepresenting an informational meeting King held in order to solicit community-building advice, these posters warned: "Chris King wants Global Youth Connect to come organize student life at Harvard." Global Youth Connect is a secular youth group in Boston.

A quotation added at the bottom of the posters stated: "Our youth ministry exists to bring non-believers to Christ"—a dubious charge considering that the quote came from the website of a completely unaffiliated Bible-study group in Ohio named Connect.

Seton’s campaign said the posters’ use of out of context quotes subtracted from the election. "It was a real shame," decried Seton, who took King’s side during a debate in chastising the posters.

Driskell—who lamented that ancient stereotypes still persist even in the supposed openness of Harvard liberalism—explained, "At the time, we figured it was some kid playing a very mean prank and that we could press on without bringing up charges."

However, Epps defended student apprehensions about King’s Christian connections. "His affiliation to Christian groups was a fair question to ask, and the reaction to his affiliation is fair," declared Epps.

The King-Driskell ticket was henceforth labeled by some in the Harvard community as religious extremists. "I think people were saying ‘if they believe in God, then clearly they can’t be as open-minded as they say,’" said Driskell.

"In retrospect, maybe it would have been better to press charges," Driskell added. The Seton campaign indicated that they would have pursued an investigation, but also understood how King and Driskell wanted to put it behind them and move on.

"The issue of religion became the surprise issue," said Seton. "King’s platform certainly was not a platform you would associate with the Christian Right."

Other candidates agreed that King based his "values-driven leadership" on the It Takes a Village-type values that Hillary Clinton espouses, not on any outspoken references to Christian doctrine.

King emphasized that his campaign stressed the three values of "compassion, collaboration and innovation," not "Bible-study, worship and praise." Still, "I was painted with the same brush as a Jerry Falwell and a James Dobson," noted King.

Indeed, current UC President Beth Stewart characterized King’s campaign as "very progressive," "very much about diversity," and that it "had an extremely diverse campaign team in terms of race and sexuality." "I think it is interesting that Harvard rejected a progressive ticket simply because of religion," Stewart added.

"I don’t think people ever made the connection to his progressive politics," attested Stewart, "I think very early on he was labeled as ‘Chris King: Religious Psycho,’ and no one cared much about his issues after that."

Stewart drew an analogy between the criticisms of King’s campaign and of her previous campaign; criticisms both of which had nothing to do with their respective platforms.

Though Stewart—whose campaign President-elect Seton worked for—tried to disassociate her campaign and platform from politics, her political conservatism remained a plague throughout her campaign. "It seemed like every Crimson article started off with ‘Republican Beth Stewart, who worked for Newt Gingrich last summer,’" attested Seton to Campus Report.

Harvard has a long history of bias against conservatives and conservative ideas. As recently as last winter, Professor Peter Berkowitz, a highly respected and highly qualified University professor of over eight years, was denied tenure for his right-of-center views. During the 1990s Harvard has also banned from campus the ROTC program, retained a gay chaplain who has performed same-sex weddings, and experienced a massive theft of a conservative student paper.

Even so, Stewart was able to overcome Harvard’s anti-conservative climate and the Crimson’s alleged bias to win her election. This year, Seton’s conservative ties and the fact he served as president of the Republican Club last year received nary a mention.

Meanwhile, Christianity has become target number one for much of the Harvard community. "The Crimson editorial page has cracks on people of faith and cracks on religion daily," said King.

Concluded Stewart, "The idea of having an evangelical Christian was extremely shocking to a lot of people. I think it is fair to say that anti-religion bias trumped anti-conservative bias."

- Eric Langborgh