An Open Harvard

[Archibald Cox's] actions, like those of Mr. Richardson and Mr. Ruckelshaus, take on an added significance in the University community from whence he came, for the University must be sensitive to everything that bears upon the moral education of its members. In part, this responsibility can be discharged within the classroom--and there is more to be accomplished here than we have achieved thus far. In part, the responsibility implies a willingness by the University itself to grapple seriously and openly with the moral questions that inhere in the institutional decisions that it makes. Derek Bok, President of Harvard University Morning Prayers, delivered Monday October 29, 1973, Appleton Chapel, Memorial Church

Suppose Harvard were run the way many voices of conscience think the Federal Government should be run:

1. There would be complete financial disclosure of the salaries of all appointees of the Harvard Corporation, as well as of informal additions to these salaries in the form of per diem travel allowances and other perquisites.

2. Tenured professors would feel the additional obligation of U.S. senators to disclose all outside income from consulting, private business activities, speaking engagements, royalties, interest and dividends to allay any suspicions that such outside income might influence their objectivity or might distract them from the life of quiet reflection which it is the purpose of life tenure to assure.

3. All donations to the University of $100 or more would be a matter of public record, encouraging The Crimson to write snide stories whenever a large contributor were appointed to a visiting committee or given an honorary degree.

4. All contracts for Harvard buildings would be put up for nationwide competitive bidding, and The Crimson would raise innuendoes about any contract awarded to Harvard contributors and alumni. The same would be done for Harvard legal, culinary, printing, office and custodial services, making it politically difficult for the University to contract out any activities.

5. The University itself would be under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office for "possible violations" of campaign laws for having given unreported donations of free office space to partisan campaigns in 1972.

6. The Counsel to the University would act as an independent prosecutor collecting evidence to discipline all members of the University who may have violated statutes of the Commonwealth, lest such violations undermine public confidence in the University, or endanger its tax-exempt status.

7. There would be reformist agitation for faculty committees to be given large standing staffs to match the increase in staff in the Executive Branch of the University.

8. All deliberations relating to student honors and Phi Beta Kappa awards would be published, along with verbatim transcripts of proceedings of all faculty committees.

9. Corporation appointees would regularly leak material from confidential files to The Crimson, which would regularly publish them if they fell short of criminal libel. Critics of this practice would be pilloried as enemies of freedom of speech.

10. The works of Ralph Nader and John Gardner would be chanted aloud at Evensong in the Savanarola Chapel of Memorial Church.

11. Anyone who favored the resolute enactment of any or all of the above ten measures would be considered a morally superior person. Anyone who suspected that their enactment would undermine the trust and confidentiality essential to the health of any institution, public or private, would lack either the courage to say so or the moral authority to be believed.

"Andrew Johnson" is a grad student in Government and an impeachable source.

If Harvard were run the way many people think the federal government should be run, Corporation appointees would regularly leak materials from confidential files.