Nieman Fellow Arrested

Harvard's Nieman Foundation is racking up an impressive list of former fellows who have been arrested.

Earlier this year, former Nieman fellow Nicholas S. Daniloff '56 became a cause celebre when he was detained in the Soviet Union on espionage charges.

This weekend, Zwelakhe Sisulu, a fellow from 1984-1985, was arrested by South African security forces during a sweeping new wave of round-ups of journalists, opposition and union leaders and community activists.

The Nieman Foundation runs a prestigious program for mid-career journalists from the United States and for international journalists.

Sisulu is the editor of the bi-weekly newspaper New Nation which is closely tied to the Catholic Church. He is regarded as one of the nation's leading Black journalists.

Shelling Out the Bucks to Harvard

Harvard may have the biggest endowment and lots of Nobel Prize winners, but the federal government doesn't seem to be paying that much attention, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

During fiscal year 1985, Harvard didn't even make the top 10 list of universities receiving money from the national government. Weighing in at number 11, Harvard took in $103.5 million. The top university was Johns Hopkins with $367 million from the government.

In terms of research funds spent overall, Harvard ranked 14th, with universities such as MIT, Cornell, Stanford, Johns Hopkins and Texas A&M spending more on research. In 1985, Harvard spent $137.6 million on research. Most of the money was derived from the federal government while only $380,000 came from state and local government.

A Prof Stumper

Even Harvard professors can be stumped by their students sometimes, especially when the students use the professor's own textbook to do it.

Students in Computer Science 121 were so perplexed by a problem in their most recent problem set that they took it to a teaching fellow. He was stymied and took it to another teaching fellow who was equally confused. Then they all went to the source.

McKay Professor of Computer Science Harry Lewis wrote the book but found himself scratching his head when challenged by the problem. So he called the co-author at MIT and after a half-hour meeting of minds, the solution was devised. But at least the problem was excised from the set.

Harvard Divestment Noticed

Black South African leaders noticed when Harvard partially divested in October of some of its investments in companies that do business in that country. Commenting on the growing company pullout of South Africa, Themba Vilakazi, a U.S.-based representative of the African National Congress, mentioned the Harvard divestment.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Vilakazi said that the $159 million divestment wouldn't bring about any noticeable change in South Africa. "But the announcement itself adds to the climate and helps achieve the goal of isolating South Africa," said the U.S. spokesman for the outlawed Black nationalist group.

Go to School in Cambridge

Going to school in Cambridge is getting better all the time. The Cambridge School Board was named "the best school board in America," by the National Education Association's newspaper NEA Today.

According to the Cambridge Tab, a strong recommendation from Cambridge Teachers Assocaition President Susan Noonan-Forster helped propell the local board to the top.

"They do represent the kind of school committee we can communicate with, we can disagree with and we can be heard," Noonan-Forster is reported as saying.

Council Songbirds Croon

The Undergraduate Council is getting into a festive mood. But not by singing holiday tunes. This weekend and last weekend, council members found themselves singing happy birthday to two of their members.

Former council chairman Brian C. Offutt '87 celebrated his 21st birthday with a resolution from the student government proclaiming him a good guy and a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday.

Last night, when the council took a vote on whether to sing to Tab T. Stewart '88 for his 21st, one member took exception to having to stretch his vocal cords two weekends in a row. Council Chairman Richard S. Eisert '88 graciously excused the dissenter from joining the chanting council's chorus.