Coming Up Empty

The search for a Holocaust studies chair has ended. After consulting with the search committee, Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and the potential donors, the Kenneth and Evelyn Lipper Foundation, announced this week they have agreed to reallocate the already donated portion of the money intended to endow a Helen Zelaznik Professorship for Holocaust and Cognate Studies to the Lipper Center for Computational Genetics at the Harvard Medical School.

"I am delighted to see the Lipper's funds being put to such immediate good use in the Medical School," said Knowles, yet his enthusiasm belies the disappointing result of this donation: Harvard surrendered its chance to become a leader in Holocaust research after a disappointingly meager and questionable search in this vital area. With a greater effort, Harvard easily could have found someone for this important position.

Yale, Princeton and the University of Chicago are currently considering Holocaust studies professorships, according to Martin H. Peretz, a lecturer in social studies. While no particular scholar may have been available at the time of the bequest, that is no reason for the University to convince the donor to reallocate the money.

Perhaps even a greater concern than the decision to reallocate the money was the shoddy process by which the University searched for a scholar to fill the proposed chair. According to Krupp Foundation Professor of European Studies Charles S. Maier, the committee chair, some members of the search committee, though qualified scholars in the field, objected to the idea of a professorship solely devoted to the Holocaust and its causes.

If the University had questions about the legitimacy of a professorship in Holocaust studies, these issues should have been resolved before a committee began a search for someone to fill the position. It is no surprise that the committee could not agree on a candidate given the dissension in its ranks over the position's validity. Conducting a half-hearted search and then turning over the money to a program at the medical school, however meritable, displays a insensitivity on the part of the University to what is a burgeoning and controversial area of study.

Additionally, the preference of some committee members for Goldhagen--and the rumored endorsement by the donors-suggests that a viable candidate could have been found, especially if the committee's proposal to make the position a visiting professorship for three years was accepted by Dean Knowles and the donors. Harvard has hurt itself in failing to pursue the professorship adequately with a board of professors who agreed on the need for the position. By cutting short the search and reallocating the money, Harvard has also hindered the cause of Holocaust studies at what may be its most vital moment.