A Living Memorial to JFK?

THE GALA OPENING of the new Kennedy School of Government Saturday provided sharp contrasts and contradictions that were almost lost in the hoopla of the Big Green and the Head of the Charles.

Ira Jackson, associate dean of the school, said the University administration expected the dedication to "be a very solemn, very significant, and singularly important event for Harvard University, for the Kennedy family...and hopefully for future generations of Americans who will be affected by the JFK School."

Befitting an event commemorating Harvard's expanded commitment to train professional public servants, the political elite of Harvard, Massachusetts and Camelot were in attendance. So were thousands of students, some on one side of the barricades gawking at celebrities, some on the other protesting the naming of the school's library after America's most effective corporate booster of racial oppression in South Africa.

What stood out most clearly on Saturday, however, was the contrast between the liberal and egalitarian ideals of the Kennedy family (especially Senator Ted) and the elitist nature of the entire event. Also apparent was the contradiction between Harvard's commitment to promote responsive, democratic government and the University's duplicity in handling the demonstrators.

From the outset the Kennedy School administration planned an exclusive event aimed at reinforcing the perception that Harvard is a natural center for training the nation's elite. Big names would rise to offer the usual platitudes, panels of experts would debate and a Black Tie Gala would top off the festivities.

This was no affair for the likes of political dissidents or even government department teaching fellows. Deans Jackson and Graham Allison contended the demonstrators threatened the dignity of the opening ceremonies. The demonstrators may have disrupted the gratuitous pomp and circumstance, but how can political expression interfere with the teaching of responsive public service?

To its credit, the administration did negotiate with the student demonstrators and once in negotiations University officials tried to be fair. But the University only agreed to talk once it became clear it could not ignore the legitimate concerns of students that Harvard was publicity honoring a man who supported the apartheid regime both verbally and financially. After all, 500 students chanting "Harvard Out Now!" might disturb the ceremony and look bad on the six o'clock news. As usual the administration's primary concern was pragmatic, not moral.

So under the pretext of offering Harvard students a chance to express their opinions about their own campus, but actually jockeying desperately to minimize the impact and publicity of the demonstration, the administration granted students a five-minute speech after the ceremonies. After the speech Dean Allison said that Mark Smith '72-4 had only been allowed to speak because Sen. Kennedy invited him to, not because the University believed it was the right thing to do. Like good anti-trust attorneys, the administration is forever wary of establishing dangerous precedents.

The other disturbing contrast of the weekend was the K-School's Establishment Mixer Saturday evening. It was a throwback to the 1950s, at least. Faculty, politicians and selected students filled the ARCO Forum in their mandatory tuxedos, capes and gowns. Not only did one need status to be invited, but there was a two-class system among the guests themselves. Some of the guests had special VIP passes to a less-crowded penthouse bar above the run-of-the-mill attending the gala. The penthouse doors were guarded by the pre-elite students from the Institute of Politics.

What's disturbing is not that people like to dress fancy and have a good time--even children enjoy playing house and wearing crowns. It is that the ideologies of these liberal Kennedys, Galbraiths, student politicos and journalists stand in bleak contrast to their elitist lifestyles and pretensions. How will Americans view a lavish black-tie affair to open a school of public service?

Many will see it as proof that the Kennedy School is merely an appendage of official Washington, an institution dedicated to intellectual justifications for the status quo.

WHILE IT IS TRUE that any University affair featuring Kennedys, senators and free liquor has to be limited, the K-School went overboard. Sen. John C. Culver '54 (D-Iowa) seemed surprised by the dress requirement at the mixer--he ran out to rent a tuxedo in Porter Square.

Even in America, a philosopher king like Kennedy or Galbraith lives above the rest of society but identifies with the common man. The Kennedy School, however, seems obsessed with absorbing the Kennedy attitude of noblesse oblige and passing it on to the leaders it trains.

When Sen. Kennedy led a standing ovation after Mark Smith's protest speech, he offered a third contrast. Harvard's administrators are often less sensitive than its richest alumni. If the Kennedy School lives up to the promise of its dedication, it will produce a set of sterile technocrats instead of caring public servants.