CAMBRIDGE - When Christopher Higgins, a 22-year-old Harvard senior, walks the university's storied campus, he sees plaques, markers, and other reminders of the military legacy of an institution that has more Medal of Honor winners than any college other than the service academies. But the military's place in today's student body is much more complex. On Tuesdays, when Higgins wears his Army ROTC uniform, some of his friends fail to recognize him. Harvard has banned the Reserve Officers' Training Corps from campus since the Vietnam War, and the few students who participate - by traveling to MIT to take corps classes - feel an awkward distance from their own college. 'As a cadet, it doesn't impact me too much; I only have to get up a half-hour earlier to get to MIT,' Higgins said. 'But as a Harvard student, I think it's a shame.' Proud of Harvard's academics and proud of the US military, the ROTC cadets and midshipmen at the nation's oldest university find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a roiling political debate. Drew Faust, Harvard president, drew renewed attention to Harvard's awkward relationship with the military two weeks ago, when she said the Reserve Officers' Training Corps will be banned from campus until gay men and women are allowed to serve openly in the armed forces. Senator Scott Brown, a National Guard lieutenant colonel, then assailed that decision, saying that the university had its priorities 'upside-down.' In the middle are 20 ROTC cadets and midshipmen who live in what Nicole Unis, a graduate student in Army ROTC, called 'a little bit of limbo.' Several cadets interviewed last week said they do not face hostility from classmates or faculty, but that they sometimes feel invisible on campus. 'There are so few of us, it feels like we're grasping at straws to hold on,' said Victoria Migdal, 20, a junior Army cadet who is president of the Harvard ROTC Association. Cadets can wear their uniforms at Harvard, but the ROTC program cannot regularly use campus facilities. The Harvard ROTC Association, a student group, reserves rooms and other amenities for the cadets and midshipmen on campus. Faust, the daughter of a decorated World War II veteran, attends ROTC commissioning ceremonies each year. But cadets receive no academic credit at Harvard for the military science classes they take at MIT to earn that commission. The ROTC program, which offers scholarships for tuition, provides undergraduates with a path to an officer's commission in the Army, Navy, or Air Force. The students are required to take military science courses, participate in field drills and physical training sessions, and wear a uniform on campus at least one day per week. ROTC students make an eight-year commitment to the military after graduation. They must spend at least three years - four if they received a scholarship - on active duty, and the balance of the time can be spent in the reserves. MIT hosts students from nine colleges in its ROTC program, but Harvard is the only one that bans ROTC from campus. As Unis walked across Harvard Yard last week, she stood out among the hundreds of young scholars. There was a backpack strapped to her shoulders, a camouflage cap pulled over tightly knotted hair, and loose-fitting Army fatigues covering the rest of her slender frame. Unis attracted double-takes and lingering glances. Outside the gates, a panhandler in Harvard Square rose in salute as she strode past. 'You've got to show some respect,' he said. Unis, 24, said she left a well-paying job in corporate finance to enroll at Harvard, join ROTC, and work toward a job in Army intelligence. 'At the end of the day, I felt that what I was doing was not personally fulfilling,' said Unis, who is studying management and Arabic. 'I didn't feel that large institutional investors needed my help as much as other people did.' The ROTC students praised Faust and the university for attending commissioning, meeting with them, and providing financial aid to veterans beyond what they receive under the new GI Bill. But for Isaiah Peterson, 20, a junior in Air Force ROTC, such overtures go only so far. 'That's definitely a good thing, but that doesn't mean we're totally happy just because she reaches out to us,' Peterson said. 'We have almost no way of letting students know that we exist on campus. That keeps us from growing and keeps us as a tiny minority.' Higgins also would welcome the increased visibility of formal recognition. 'If it were talked about more on campus, more students would realize it's a great career,' Higgins said. 'It should be seen more as an option to Goldman Sachs.' Faust has said that she looks forward to recognizing ROTC fully at Harvard if the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is overturned. The military's ban on openly gay service members, according to university officials, is a violation of Harvard's policy against discrimination. 'I have said many times that I look forward to the day when the opportunity to pursue military service will be available to every student who has the ability and the desire to serve,' she said in a statement for this story. In the meantime, Faust said, the ROTC coursework at MIT 'has worked quite effectively.' The commander of the Army ROTC battalion based at MIT, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Hall, said he has good working relations with Harvard. 'It's one of those things,' he said. 'It really makes no difference for us and how we do things here.' As for the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, Hall said, 'The law's the law as far as we're concerned. I believe that they understand we have to follow the law.' None of the cadets interviewed for this article offered a personal opinion on 'don't ask, don't tell,' which took effect in 1993. 'As cadets, we have absolutely nothing to do with that,' Peterson said. 'Whether or not I have a osition, it really doesn't matter. It's all something that's imposed on the military.' A better way to influence the policy, Peterson suggested, would be to confront the political power in Congress, which has the authority to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell.' 'If Harvard has a problem with something in the military,' said Peterson, 'I think they should figure out the source of that problem and work against that source.' 