Rudenstine Touts Harvard-Boston Relations

In the second sign in a week that Harvard is taking a new tack in its relationship with Boston, Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine spoke yesterday to local businesspeople at Boston's Four Seasons Hotel.

Rudenstine's talk--one of the first in recent memory in which he sounded less like an academic leader and more like a CEO--dealt with Harvard's recent sale of a Roxbury housing complex and a report on the University's economic impact released earlier this week.

Echoing the report, Rudenstine spoke about how the Boston area attracts students to Harvard, and touted the University's injection of money, community service hours and intellectual capital into the city.

"It seems like they want to be a part of Boston now," quipped Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who made a cameo appearance before the speech.

Harvard has had a serious image problem in the Boston area in recent years. The revelation in the summer of 1997 that the University had been secretly buying up land in Allston created tension, especially with Menino.

"There's an important process of the University internally getting in touch with itself," said Paul S. Grogan, vice president for government, community and public affairs, of the community outreach initiative.

The University commissioned the economic impact study by an outside agency to determine Harvard's impact on the region's economy.

The study found that Harvard is the area's second largest private employer behind Partners Health Care System but ahead of Bell Atlantic and Fidelity Investments.

Harvard spent $1.15 billion on payroll, goods and services in the area over the past year, the report says, and most of the University's revenue comes from outside the state--importing capital that is then spent here.

"It's clear that higher education is an economic colossus in Boston--and Harvard plays a large role," Rudenstine said.

Many local companies sent employees to hear Rudenstine speak.

Jack W. Delaney '64, of the law firm Hale & Dorr, said the University's move to reach out to the community was "long overdue and very welcome."

Rudenstine emphasized that Harvard's location in the Boston area is a factor in the high number of accepted students who choose to attend.

"We are able to draw, disproportionately, the most talented people to the University for many reasons, but one of them is unquestionably the fact that from Harvard Square to Copley Square...we are fortunate to be surrounded by a vital and robust urban environment," Rudenstine said.

He also talked about the University's effect on Boston, saying that its contribution is not simply economic. The University brings intellectual capital to the area, he said--and Harvard affiliates help the community in other ways.

For example, Rudenstine said, Harvard undergraduates alone volunteer about half a million hours a year for public service. That figure roughly doubles when graduate students, faculty and staff are factored in.

Rudenstine asked for the business community's help in lobbying for more science research funding. This week he and other university presidents traveled to Washington to try to save such funding in the next budget bill. Rudenstine said such moves benefit the entire community.

"If we can't keep the scientific engine going, it's bad for the country, not just the universities," Rudenstine said. "[The trip] showed what can happen when businesspeople make the case for research funding in basic and applied sciences."

Rudenstine also spoke about the sale of the Riverway at Mission Park low-income housing complex in Roxbury to its tenants' association. The complex was built after a Harvard land purchase in the 1960s created community friction.

He said the University will help alleviate housing shortages in the area by building housing for graduate students.

"More joint efforts and initiatives can--and will--be undertaken, here and in other areas," Rudenstine said.

Now it's a matter of getting involvement from those outside the Harvard community, Grogan said after the speech. A new community service directory, also issued recently, will help, he added.

There are many new opportunities for community initiatives, Grogan said, including affordable housing, education, health and economic development.