When the first plans for 20th Century were being drafted Early this fall, as plans for the program began to jell, Since the program was aimed at a small number of people--ideally no more than 20 or 30 per seminar--little thought was given to obtaining "big name" speakers for Other members of the committee--and most of the general public--assumed that the purpose of the evening The result was a disturbingly small attendance at the Students who attended the seminar sessions felt they Those who attended only the evening programs did Here again there was confusion about aims of the program. If the evening panels were supposed to be merely an introduction to the next day's seminars, then students not involved in the seminars were perfectly justified in staying away, and there should have been no disappointment at the small attendance. On the other hand, if the planners of 20th Century Week were being consistent in this aim, they made a serious mistake in reserving Sanders for the evening programs. Many members of the 20th Century Week committee felt it was not enough to present a program of seminars punctuated by public panel discussions. There was considerable support for the notion that the program could yield new ideas and widespread discussion of the United States Image. Apparently, the committee had decided to try to attract large audiences when, soon before the program began, it sought first Adlai Stevenson, then Averell Harriman to speak at the close of the Week. But this attempt to spread the interest already inspired in the seminars throughout the entire campus was begun too late, and carried out too haphazardly. Many students who might have attended Harriman's speech if it had been offered early in the week, had lost interest by Sunday, when he gave it. Others who were enthused with Harriman's words had no place to take their kindling interest--for that afternoon marked the end of the program. This indecisive planning cannot be blamed entirely on the planners of Twentieth Century Week--such waverings between over-ambitiousness and over-conservatism are implicit in practically any such undergraduate enterprise. Nor are they fully responsible for the program's failure to attract wide-spread undergraduate interest. For they ran into serious trouble in attempting to raise funds and acquire whole-hearted support from the Harvard administration, causing them to narrow greatly the scope of their plans. When plans for the Week were first being framed, the program committee was thinking in terms of a $35,000 budget. Last spring, apparently, they traveled the foundation circuit, receiving expressions of interest, but no commitments. These nibbles, however, led them to plan for a large-scale program--until they returned to Harvard this Fall and found only $200 in their coffers. Perhaps the best example of the group's fund-raising problem occurred when they went to the Ford Foundation for support. Attracted by the project, but suspicious of the group's ability to carry through, Ford offered to put up the entire sum needed, with only one string attached: they would have to see a verified list of speakers before giving money. This of course, put the group smack in the midst of an inescapable dilemma. To attract speakers from under-developed land, they would have to promise money for transportation, housing, and sometimes also pay honorariums. To receive the money, they would have to acquire ironclad commitments from each of the speakers. Without going as far as Fore most of the large Foundations required proof that the program would succeed--more than "something By shifting the emphasis of the fund-raising technique, the committee managed to turn $200 into When Foundation support fail to materialize this Fall, the program committee was forced to make a to revision of its plans--to draw up entirely new guest list. On a limit budget, they could not afford to This created enormous problem it made scheduling an extremely With the guest list so uncertain, committee frequently met with turbing problems of detail. It was occasionally difficult, for example, find accommodations for the speakers. Throughout the week, there Twentieth Century Week was received with worthwhile purpose, for the 200 students who registered the seminars, represented a success examination of our national image. It can only be regretted, how that 20th Century Week did possess as much value for the students body at large. One wishes that a
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