Joint Panel Backs Plan For Iranian Grad School

A joint Harvard-Iran commission has recommended general approval of a Harvard group's plan for the establishment of a graduate school in Iran, Richard G. Leahy, associate dean of the Faculty for resources and planning and a member of the group, said yesterday.

The Harvard group's plan calls for the setting up of a mostly Iranian nine-member board of governors to run the proposed 500-student university, Leahy said.

The plan also proposes the creation of an Iranian Educational Foundation to contract for assistance on the School's curriculum, building construction and academic planning with universities in this country and Western Europe.

The foundation would be the "staff arm" of the school's board of governors, Leahy said, with a minority of its trustees from American and Western Europe academic, business and professional groups.

Leahy added that the proportion of Western academics and businessmen on the school's board of governors and among the foundation's trustees would insure the Iranian school's "contacts with American universities."

Curriculum Outlined

The Harvard group's plan--contained in a 90-per-cent completed first draft totalling about 250 pages--also proposes a general outline for the school's natural, medical and social science curriculum.

The school's Iranian student body, under the proposal, would be composed of 40 per cent in social and natural sciences and 20 per cent in the medical sciences, concentrating in health care delivery, Leahy said.

Edward L. Keenan Jr. '57, professor of History and a member of the Harvard group, said that the proposed school would be an "elite Ph.D.-granting institution," and the only school in Iran exclusively involved in graduate study and research.

The school will be located on the Caspian Sea, away from the capital city. Teheran, as agreed on earlier this year in consultations between the Harvard group and the Iranian government.

The Harvard Iran commission--which is composed of seven members of the Harvard group and an equal number of Iranians--last week unanimously recommended the sections of the plan concerning the board of governors and the foundation, Leahy said.

Keenan said yesterday that with the completion of the report Harvard's formal connection with the Iranian school ends, but he added that it is "only a prudent expectation" that Harvard faculty and administrators will individually be involved in the school's board of governors and the foundation.

Keenan said that the Iranian foundation may contract with faculty-members and academic departments at Harvard for further advice on the setting-up and running of the school.

Leahy agreed, saying that "a lot of people here have become involved with this [the Iranian] university, and they want to continue to be involved."

The commission also recommended to the University's all-Iranian board of trustees that the rest of the Harvard plan serve as the basis for the board of governors future development of the school, Leahy said.

The proposed school's board of trustees, made up of high-ranking Iranian government and public figures, will decide whether to give final approval to the plan within the next two weeks, Leahy said.

Leahy, Keenan and Frederick H. Abernathy, McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering and another member of the group, said yesterday that they are optimistic that the trustees will approve the joint commission's recommendations.

The group's plan was presented to the Iranian members of the joint commissions last week in Teheran, and is the work of four Harvard task forces of about 20 faculty members and administrators as well as the seven Harvard members of the joint commission.

Twelve members of the group went to Iran about ten days ago, Leahy said.

The task forces were created following a contract between the University and the Iranian government, formalized in November, which authorized Harvard to make a "feasibility study" on a graduate school for Iran.

The Iranian government agreed to pay the commission and task force members about $400,000 as reimbursement for personal expenses, travel and in some cases--such as Leahy's for spending time on formulating the Harvard group's proposals.

Leahy said that a large amount of the $400,000 grant was unused by the Harvard group's members, and would be returned to the Iranian government under the terms of the contract