"It's a little bit like a football game. To decide who is going to get tickets, you have to have a pecking order," says Francis H. Burr '35, chairman of the 350th Anniversary Celebration Commission and former senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation.
Reardon and Glimp say the higher-priced tickets will help defray the celebration's $1 million price-tag. "I don't feel we ought to use scholarship money to finance the extravaganza," says Glimp.
But even the ticket revenues will not cover the cost of the entire celebration, say finance administrators. The stadium event and a folk concert will be the only major events to charge more than $10, while a champagne and jazz ball at the Charles Hotel will cost only $5 and the more than 100 symposia with top University professors will be free.
"The University will subsidize [the 350th]," says Reardon. "We will not make a profit. We will not break even."
As 40,000 alumni, students, and friends of Harvard--including some of the University's most generous benefactors--converge on Cambridge, however, University finance officials may regret the decision to exclude all fundraising from the event.
Although the development office concluded a $360 million five-year fundraiser in December 1984, it has yet to raise enough to finance the completion of major renovation projects in the Houses and laboratories.
Fringe Benefits
Despite the exorbitant cost of the 350th and the official ban on fundraising, University finance officials say the celebration could have lucrative long-term effects for Harvard. Reardon says the 350th will evoke "a residual benefit in fundraising."
When visitors hear star Harvard faculty in the symposia or stay in dilapidated dormitories, they will be more inclined to contribute to support these aspects of the University, says Glimp. Bringing alumni to Harvard will expose them to the University's budgetary needs and help to overcome the stereotype that we're rich,"Reardon says.
Robert Phifer '69, an alumni representativefrom San Francisco, says he agrees that the 350thplanners have "tried to create a good feeling" forHarvard. "This good feeling means support andsupport means giving money," says Phifer.
"I can't imagine many people coming away fromthe 350th without anything but a warm feeling forthe institution," says Van der Eb.
The next time Harvard sends Eddie Marshall '26of Weston a dplea for donations, he says, "theywill work in [the 350th] somehow and ask 'did youhave a good time?'"
Although some of Harvard's most generousbenefactors will attend the celebration, manyalumni representatives say they were chosen basedon their record of service for Harvard, ratherthan the size of their donations. "I havevolunteered 100 man hours to Harvard," says LorrinLau '39, who says he could never afford to give alarge monetary gift.
"Some of our friends said you need to give $1million to go [to the 350th]. But you don't needto," says John Dixon '43. Representatives werepicked for their involvement in their class andgeographic diversity, says Dixon, who hails fromSouth Carolina.
In contrast to the alumni who broughtmillion-dollar donations to the birthdaycelebration 50 years ago, Bill Saunders '39 says,"I didn't even bring my wallet." Contributions aregiven "more subtly nowadays," he adds. After the350th, Saunders says, he is "confident that we'llbe approached and inspired to give."
In the future Harvard will get "all the moniesthey normally get plus some extra because of thecelebration," predicts Lorin Woodman '37.
In addition to the 350th hype, alumninetworking built up during the five-year HarvardCampaign, which drew a 65 percent participationrate, has also intensified alumni desire tocontribute, says David Johnson, spokesman for thedevelopment office.
The main destination for donations now will bethe 60-year-old Harvard College Fund, saysJohnson. In the first annual fund drive since thecampaign, the fund raked in more than its $17.5million goal last year