A Certain Sameness

The news is that nothing is really new. Harvard's two governing boards have traditionally been, and will most likely continue to be, populated largely by white, Northeastern businessmen.

In the past few years the seven-member Corporation and the 32-member Board of Overseers have changed slightly in composition, the Corporation taking on two professors and the Overseers several women, blacks and non-business people. So what is new this year is that the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction.

Ten people are nominated for the Board of Overseers this year; all of them are men, nine are white, seven are present or former chief executive officers of corporations, two are lawyers and one is a United States Senator.

Twelve people are nominated for the board of the Associated Harvard Alumni; eleven are men, all are white and half are in business.

The smaller and more powerful Harvard Corporation has one of its rare vacancies this year, and by all indications it, too, is looking for a businessman for the post.

In a letter asking alumni to suggest names for the Corporation post, President Bok suggested that the kind of person the Corporation was looking for is one familiar with business or finance.

Nine Washington alumni voiced the first real complaints about the selection process for the governing boards last week, writing a letter to the nominating committee of the Associated Harvard Alumni about the narrow scope of the Overseer nominees.

The letter was, however, basically an after-the-fact protest not likely to influence the outcome of the elections. When the new AHA and governing boards members are announced in June or later, the news will probably be no different than it is now.