All told there almost 400 tenured faculty members at Harvard, and about three times as many who teach in various capacities. You, most likely, will end up spending most of your time with graduate students as your teachers, and may even get one as your thesis adviser. Want to reconsider?
5. Next big question: Where does the University stand in relation to the City?
Uh, good question. Believe it or not, Cambridge is not part of Harvard, but vice-versa. There is a long history of town-gown battles which Harvard usually wins, and tries to convince people that some sort of reconciliation has been made. The most recent example concerns the new Radcliffe athletic facility on Observatory Hill, which residents vigorously protested until about a month ago. The gym should be finished by next spring. Take 2--Recombinant DNA research. Former Cambridge Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci successfully led the fight to ban the controversial work for five months in 1976. That put both MIT and Harvard in a bind, and caused lots of tensions when work in other super-security P-3 facilities around the country began producing results. MIT opened its laboratories last year, and Harvard's should be finished in about a month. Welcome to Harvard.
6. Will Harvard ever run out of money?
Probably not, but just to save face with other Universities, most of which are in bad shape financially, Harvard has initiated a somewhat serious effort to cut back. Two years ago, a guy named Stephen S. J. Hall, former vice president for administration, had 115 brainstorms on how to save money. That was the winter Hall decided to turn off all the heat in the Houses over Christmas vacation,, producing extensive flooding due to cracked water pipes, costing a whole lot.
In an effort to keep the Freshman Union open on weekends, we had the Fox Plan, which was to make up the extra cost by abolishing hot breakfasts in the Houses. Another mistake -- somebody didn't know how to add, but by the time they realized that in fact Harvard could afford hot breakfasts and meals at the Union seven days a week, it was too late to turn things around. This year has promised to be different.
7. What is Harvard like--culturally speaking?
At times it may seem to you that Harvard is trying to turn you into a type, so that when you get out of here (although there are plenty that engage in this practice while they are here), you can walk around all puffed up and properly conceited. It may, of course, be the fault of the students, but there is simply not much going on here, in terms of diversity of student organizations. The black students' organizations appear to be on their way out, unless somebody finds some money this year, and the DuBois Institute for Afro-American Studies is also reported to be having its problems.
Actually, Harvard thrives on your basic Ivy League activities--classical music, a little jazz and film type of stuff. Whenever you get bored, go to the movies.
8. Who can help with the $7500 tuition bills?
It is fairly easy to borrow from Father Harvard--interest free--while you're still an undergraduate. And if the Senate has its way, some of your parents may be able to receive up to $250 a year from the federal government, in the form of a tuition tax credit. This does not promise to be a good plan, though, because not everyone will qualify for help--i.e., lower-income folks.
9. Is there a student government at Harvard?
Yes and no. Since 1969, when the Harvard Undergraduate Council liquidated itself, until last spring, student government at Harvard consisted of a wide variety of student-faculty committees. Their official powers were rather dubious, and their actual influence negligible. Student apathy was par for the course and there was no effective forum where student opinion could be gauged and acted upon. The administration assumed a paternalistic role in most affiars, denying students any significant say in the governance of the University.
Last fall, a group of undergraduates got together to discuss the possibility of starting an assembly to represent the student body better. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention differed as to the degree of real statutory authority students might successfully acquire from the faculty and administration. Most delegates soon realized they would have to make some major compromises if the proposed constitution were to be ratified by a majority of the student population, and gain official approval. The Constitution eventually won the approval of more than 75 per cent of the undergraduate student body.
10. Does Harvard ever make mistakes?
Funny you should ask that. Why, just last spring, a well-known senior tutor on campus notified one of his advisees that he didn't have enough credits to graduate. The unsuspecting undergraduate, or graduate, or whatever, was in Big Lake, Alaska at the time. He immediately wrote back, as did his mother, explaining that in fact, he was eligible for the great sheepskin. Of course, another look at his files prompted a return telegram, letter of explanation and profuse apology.
Then, a few weeks ago, thanks to modern technology, 1600 incoming sophomores were notified that they would all be housed in Grays Hall this fall. (Actually, some of you are supposed to be living in Grays Hall next year, right above University police headquarters. Think about it.) About 40 phone calls later, Harvard discovered its mistake, and most sighed a breath of relief that they did not have to go through another year in the Yard.