Amid 350th Pomp, Students to Publish Book Criticizing Harvard Traditions

Amid all the pomp and celebration honoring Harvard's 350th birthday this year, a group of graduate students has decided it's time to dish out some criticism.

For the past three months, the students have been compiling a 220-page book entitled "How Harvard Rules," which promises to raise a few eyebrows. The $8 paperback, to be released in January, will critique and analyze the nation's oldest university, which publicists charge "shelters rampaging Cold Warriors, ferociously racist and sexist theoreticians in the social and natural sciences, and corporate apologists masquerading as 'value-free' academics."

"How Harvard Rules," to be published by South End Press of Boston, will challenge the University's links with major corporations and the national defense, its alleged devotion to scientific theories that maintain the status quo, and its philosophy of education in general.

"The purpose of the book is to provide a critique and analysis of the University and to offer strategies for the University's transformation," said the book's editor, Jack Trumpbour, a third-year history graduate student.

"How Harvard Rules" will include essays by such luminaries as Agassiz Professor of Geology Stephen Jay Gould, Professor of Biology RuthHubbard and MIT Linguistics Noam Chomsky, as wellas several graduate students. The book "hasgenerated a lot of interest and received manyadvance offers," said Lydia Sargent, arepresentative of South End Press.

The book will be divided into six sections, andits conclusion will present strategies oftransformation "designed to start debate as toexactly what the University stands for," Trumpboursaid.

It is the brainchild of Students forEmpowerment, a collective of graduate studentscommitted to progressive politics and theincreased democratization of the University,Trumpbour said. "We feel that the students have noinfluence in the decision-making process at theUniversity. We hope this book will change that."

"How Harvard Rules" is named after an 80-pagebooklet released in 1969 that exposed hidden filesof Harvard professors' reported involvement withthe CIA during the Vietnam War, Trumpbour said.The files were discovered when students occupiedUniversity Hall to protest the war.

"We view our project as the continuation ofstudents like those in 1969 who sought to increasetheir role of influence at the University," saidZachary Robinson, a math graduate student andorganizer of the Students for Empowerment.

"The University is more than a provider ofeducation; it exists as a corporation, afinancier, a government policy shaper," Robinsonsaid. "We hope our book will raise questions inthe Harvard community as to exactly what theUniversity is."

Hubbard said she wrote her article, about whatshe termed "scientific sexism at Harvard,"specifically for the book. The professor, whoteaches the course Biology 109, "Biology andWomen's Issues," said her article will refute arecent study by Baird Professor of Science E.O.Wilson.

In his study, Wilson, one of the nation'sleading authorities on sociobiology, argued that"intrinsic differences between men and women makewomen less qualified to succeed in the fields ofmedicine, business, etc.," Hubbard said.

Gould and Chomsky could not be reached forcomment.

While the editor and organizers of the booksaid they are unsure which specifictransformations they wish to effect at Harvard,they are certain of the book's purpose. SaidTrumpbour: "People want a perspective of Harvardthat's not coming out of the Harvard publicityoffice