On Saturday, February 1, 1997, Elizabeth Guinn Moreno, HLS Class of 1993, passed away at the age of 31. Ms. Moreno, who had received her BA in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, was a leader in the Harvard community. A loyal attendant, organizer and leader at all campus political events and academic debates, Moreno served as president of the Women's Law Association from 1991-1992, and also served as a member of the Coalition for Civil Rights.

She was a member of the famous "Griswold Nine" -- a group of nine law students who were subject to disclipline, threatened with suspention, and put on public trial by the Harvard Law School Administrative Board for participating in a silent peaceful demonstration outside of Dean Robert Clark's Office in 1992. The students were protesting the Dean's choice to hire four white male tenured professors -- at the exclusion of any female professors or any minority professors -- either male or female, in the spring of 1992. All students received a "warning" for their behavior, but none were suspended or otherwise disciplined.

Moreno was undoubtedly most known and loved for her column in the Harvard Law RECORD, which she penned pseudonymously under the name "Alysse MacIntyre" from the fall of 1990 through the spring of 1993.

The "Alysse" columns called into question stereotypes about men and women at the law school, discussed openly the relationships between sexuality and politics, and made fun of HLS social, academic, political, and extra-curricular life.

Moreno's exploits were chronicled by GQ in the magazine's 1992 profile of the turmoil at Harvard Law School, Beirut on the Charles. "Of all the writers [Editor-in-Chief] Robert Arnold publishes in the RECORD (HLS's reknowned weekly), the pseudonymous Alysse Maclntyre gets more letters than anyone, he said, 'including myself.' Alysse Maclntyre is a little different. In contrast to the overearnest political sermonizing of most of the other columnists, Alysse writes about the campus race-and-gender wars in a humorous, personal vein that ends up getting a lot closer to the truth. In her candor, she provides a glimpse of the students' inner lives."

After graduation, Moreno took and passed the California Bar Exam, and moved back to her native Los Angeles, where she worked first for White and Case and then for Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue. She also had recently completed work on a novel which she described as the "Female 'IL.'"

Moreno left behind two cats, some goldfish, and a rabbit, as well as a nation and world of fans, admirers, and close friends who loved her dearly.

Moreno was an exceptional student, activist, writer and friend who shared her brilliance and humor with all that read her columns.

She will be sorely missed.

Moreno has asked that donations in her memory be made to Public Radio, or to a suitable organization that will continue to carry out her missions of eradicating injustices of all kinds, including sexism, racism, and domestic violence.

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Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997 Rebecca L. Eisenberg mars@bossanova.com. All rights reserved.