Organization Man

There are only three things senior Donald E. Tarver II regrets since he came to Harvard--never attending the Evening of Champions figure skating show, never watching the Harvard hockey team play, and never going to the Hasty Pudding show. Tarver has participated in about every other activity offered at Harvard and when the activity hasn't existed, he has started it.

From an industrial city in northeast Ohio, Tarver played in the high school band, acted in plays, debated on the shool team, and edited the yearbook. During his four years at Harvard. Tarver has published the yearbook and been active in the Black Student Association (BSA), the Gay Students Association (GSA), the Democratic Club, the North House Committee, Freshman Council, and drama. And he's even studied biology.

President of last year's Yearbook, Tarver organized the freshman register and the yearbook. He joined the staff in his freshman year, and focused primarily on layout before becoming president. Even as president Tarver says he still specialized mainly in layout although he also had to handle a lot of "business types of things."

Active in the GSA for the past four years. Tarver spoke on a panel discussion this year on the topic. "There is more to being gay than making love." For him, that "more" has included circulating gay rights petitions and literature throughout his House. This spring. Tarver extended his work with publications to become managing editor of the first issue of a GSA literary magazine, Lavender Portfolio.

It's necessary "to be comfortable with sexuality." Tarver says, adding that he has found Harvard pretty straitlaced...The image of the Harvard man is still the Harvard Man."

Along with his participation with the GSA and Yearbook, Tarver was very active with the Democratic Club and was a member of the club's executive committee his junior year. He was also chairman of Harvard/Radcliffe students for Carter/Mondale for which every weekend he would go to different cities in New Hampshire to distribute leaflets. He says he did all this while taking Chem 20, adding he had become very "enamoured of Carter throughout his term in office."

Tarver--interested in genetic research--says he hopes to attend medical school in 1983 and next year wants to work in a Boston or Cambridge hospital "in a clinical environment." All his various extracurricular involvements have taken their toll in "terms of my overall academic performance," Tarver adds, saying that for much of his four years, he went to classes in the morning, labs in the afternoon, and the Yearbook, the GSA or whatever in the evening. Homework was left for late at night.