Reporter's Notebook

"Afro-Am studies concentrators have disrupted your conference tonight because we are protesting the lack of faculty in our department at Harvard."

--An angry student shouting to President Derek C. Bok from the balcony of the Kennedy School forum after chants from a protest outside the building drew the attention of the audience. The forum was cut short, and the protestors followed Bok to his Toyota at a nearby parking garage. When the demonstrators blocked his passage, Bok left in a police car.

"I don't think that this form of discourse is very productive."

--Bok, to the crowd of shouting Afro-Am protestors.

Mr. Destiny, the Sequel--As he stood on the balcony of a garage across from the Kennedy School Monday night, Bok may have thought the most difficult questions he would face that day were the demands of disgruntled students angry about Harvard's Afro-American Studies department. But a Harvard Police Officer would soon pose a far more challenging and profound question: "Mr. Bok, do you have a destiny we could assist you with?"

The educator pondered the query for a moment and asked, "What was that?" The officer clarified the question: "Do you have a destination?"

To which Bok replied: "I've got to go home, I guess."

"There is a correlation. It will be an especially poignant statement to make this weekend."

--E. Adam Webb '93, co-founder of Association Against Learning in the Absence of Religion and Morality (AALARM) on the postering of blue squares signifying "traditional values." The campaign began on the very day Harvard began hosting the fourth annual Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Studies Conference, and was apparently intended as an attack on the pink triangle campaign launched by gay student groups last year.

"They're deconstructing recipes now. Every cookbook is more than just recipes if you know what to look for."

--Barbara Haber, curator of books at the Schlesinger Library upon the donation of more than 2000 cookbooks by famed telechef and Cantabrigian Julia Child.

"A scholar who will work towards the goal of improving health and relieving the burden of the sick and suffering will always be known at Harvard as the Prince Turki Professor."

--Medical School Dean Daniel C. Tosteson '44 on the professor who will fill a chair at the Med School endowed by Saudi Arabian Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. Turki has been esconced in the Charles Hotel since July under the protection of Harvard and Cambridge police and, according to news services, has a long and checkered history of encounters with law enforcement officials.

"When people are drunk, they may not remember whether they said yes or not. The person that's drunk is not always clear, is not articulate, and that's why you get these cases."

--Dean of the College I. Fred Jewett '57 on the circumstances surrounding acquaintance rape at Harvard. The quote was featured on a poster which was plastered on Yard kiosks mere hours after the quote appeared in Friday morning's Crimson.

"I would hope the new president would withdraw. I think it's likely that most times a president intervening will bungle it, as Derek Bok did. I don't think any president of the University will know any more than we do..It's time for the president to bug out."

--Professor of Law Richard D. Parker, on how Harvard's next president should handle controversial tenure cases.