Magazine Director Slots Remain Open

Harvard Magazine officers have not yet found replacements for the six magazine directors who resigned last June after charging the University with trying to curtail the magazine's editorial independence through a major restructuring of the board, a magazine spokesman said yesterday.

John T. Bethel '54, editor of the magazine, said the new directors may not be appointed until January, six months after the resignations were announced. The magazine officers have not yet accepted the directors' resignations.

Administrators and magazine officers have decided the final agreement with the new directors will include a statement that the magazine's editor will have complete control over editorial content.

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But Philip M. Cronin '53, board president who resigned in June, said yesterday a resolution of the problem "has to go beyond the resolution of the editorial integrity problem."

Cronin said he and the other directors also quit because the University refused to provide financial information about the magazine to the directors, making them "mere figureheads."

Since the resignations, the University has provided no further financial data to the directors, nor has it offered any proposals regarding the board's composition, other than the plan to appoint faculty- and members of the administration to the board. This plan was a major factor in precipitating the resignations.

"The basic problem here is that this is a publication that in theory was run by the alumni, for all the alumni. It's supposed to be a distinct legal entity and it's not supposed to be run by the administration," Cronin said.

The restructuring of the board would enable the University to exert direct influence over the magazine's business and advertising affairs, such as subscription drives, Cronin said.

The University has supported the magazine since 1973, when it switched to a new format, with general interest as well as Harvard and alumni-related articles, in an attempt to increase circulation.

The University subsidy since 1973 totals about $5000.000, despite a threefold increase in circulation, figures the Office for Alumni Affairs released last year show.

The magazine's board of incorporators, the trustee group that owns the publication, will meet October 11 to discuss the future composition of the board of directors.

The board of incorporators has ultimate authority over the composition of the board of directors, which oversees daily magazine operations.