Sidney Verba Named One of Nation's Tweediest Professors

Professor of English and Comparative Literature Walter J. Kaiser may be known about Harvard for his expensive suits, but thanks to M Magazine, University Librarian Sidney Verba '53 has gained nationwide fame for his inexpensive jackets.

Verba is one of eight professors featured in the men's magazine's August issue in a segment entitled "The Tweediest Professors."

The Pforzheimer University Professor said he didn't think he "really earned the title" because he never "really worked at being tweedy." But he was quick to add that he could think of no other Harvard professor who was more deserving of the honor.

Verba, who bought his first tweed jacket when he was an undergraduate at Harvard, said he thought M magazine chose him for the photo feature because "I haven't changed what I've been wearing over the years since my undergraduate days." He said he's thinks he's had the pictured jacket since college.

The six-page spread also features Lowell Professor of the Humanities William Alfred under the title "Beyond Tweedy: I he Suity Professor."

Alfred, who bought his first suit when he was still a teenager, said he though M's decision to feature him was "the most ridiculous thing I've even heard."

"I'm the most unstylish man at Harvard," said Alfred. "I think it's hilarious that they picked me."

The six other selected professors were: Oxford College's A.O.J. Cockshut, Brown's Reginald D. Archambault, Yale's Anthony Appiah and John Blum, the University of Pennsylvania's Paul Fussell, and the University of Virginia's Bob Kellogg.