Soviet Begins Year As Nieman Fellow

The first Soviet journalist ever awarded a Nieman fellowship will arrive at Harvard within the next week for a year-long stay, said Nieman Curator William Kovach.

Journalist Vladimir Voina, an editor of USA magazine in Moscow, has not decided which courses he will take under the Nieman auspices.

The Nieman Foundation offers fellowships to leading journalists from around the world to allow them to study at Harvard for a year.

Voina was selected because he has been a prominent journalist in the Soviet Union for years, said Kovach. "He's been a journalist of great integrity for some time in a system where that was not necessarily rewarded," he said.

The 53-year-old Voina is chief of the economics, politics and ideology department of USA magazine. He is credited with exposing weaknesses in the Soviet system, often writing about consumer affairs.

"Voina has been described by American journalists as a practioner of glasnost before glasnost became public policy," Kovach said.

In addition to writing articles, Voina has translated several books into Russian and written a number of his own books, according to a Nieman Foundation statement.

Although Voina was awarded a fellowship so that he could sample the University's offerings, Kovach said Voina's classmates could learn a good deal about Soviet journalism and life from his presence.

Kovach also said he thought the Soviet's ability to study abroad signified increased openness brought about by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's policy of glasnost.

"I think it's an indication of the impact this free flow of information is having around the world," Kovach said. "The Soviet Union is opening up."

The journalist's arrival was delayed a week because of difficulties with his passport, but Kovach said he thinks Voina will not have any difficulty entering the country.

"I think it's just bureaucratic confusion, not any real problem," the curator said.

Voina's fellowship was supported in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Nieman statement said.

James Taylor to Give Benefit Show Tonight

Grammy award-winning folk singer James Taylor will perform in Harvard Stadium tonight at 6 p.m. in a University-sponsored concert to benefit Cambridge homeless.

Harvard is co-sponoring the concert with the city of Cambridge and St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church. University officials estimate that between 11 and 12 thousand people will attend the show and that the proceeds will total around $200,000.

"All of us view [the concert] as a very productive collaborative effort," said Director of Community Relations Kevin A. McCluskey '76.

The money will go to four local charities which provide permanent or transition housing for the homeless: St. Paul's AME Church Housing, Shelter Inc., Cambridge Fund for Housing the Homeless and Second Home Inc.

Tickets for floor seating in the stadium are still available through Ticketmaster. They cost $50.

NYNEX Strike Could Delay Phone Hook-ups

Harvard students and administrators may have to wait as long as several weeks for phone installations this fall due to a strike by NYNEX employees, University officials said last week.

The substantial slow down in dorm room and office hook ups is a result of a mammoth strike by 60,000 NYNEX workers--which has retarded New England's communications services since the dispute began on August 6.

"Businesses are not getting any new numbers until the end of October," one Harvard telephone official said last week.

And although University administrators said this summer that they were also expecting back-ups in student phone installations, it is not yet clear what the impact of the strike will be for student installations over the coming weeks.

The main sticking point of the strike by two NYNEX Corporation subsidiaries--New England Telephone and New York Telephone--is the issue of who will pay for health insurance. In the past, the employers paid the full tab, but now employees are being asked to contribute to the coverage.

On Saturday, New England Telephone officials threatened to discontinue benefits to striking workers, and, while a settlement has not been reached, formal talks are scheduled to resume today.

For those students who are able to hook up their phones, they can expect to find their exchange changed from 498 to 493. The 493 numbers will be solely used by Harvard undergraduates, while the old 498 exchange was also shared by some Cambridge residents.

Harvard Decides Not To Sue Cambridge

Harvard will not proceed with litigation against the city of Cambridge over last June's rezoning of the former Gulf station site on Mass. Ave., University officials announced earlier this month.

After more than three months of discussion over the use of the site, Harvard has decided that it would be too costly and too time-consuming to take the city to court over the City Council's June 5 decision to rezone the land. The zoning change cut the maximum floor area of new buildings there by 40,000 sq. ft.

Harvard's plans for the lot are currently unclear. The University originally planned to build a 200-room hotel on the site.

But those plans were reconsidered when members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences protested, saying the property should be used for a library or other academic purpose. Under the new zoning, both possibilities remain open.

Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence is expected to announce his recommendation for the site on Wednesday.

College Spends $1.5M On Yard Renovations

Years ago, students who could afford choice lodgings forsook Harvard dorms for the "Gold Coast" apartments of Cambridge--an option that first year students in recent years might have found attractive.

But after the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' $1.47 million dormitory renovation campaign this summer, the Class of 1993 may find the accommodations more to their liking.

Almost half of the Yard was closed during summer school to allow for the repairs and repainting, says Associate Dean for Physical Resources Philip J. Parsons. The interiors of 10 dorms and half of Weld Hall got a new coat, two buildings received new roofs, and several dorms gained fresh sets of furniture.

Now--according to the University's lingo--all the freshperson dorms qualify as newly renovated, with all rooms repainted in the last three years. And Parsons says all furniture will be replaced or restored by 1991.

More extensive changes--such as installing elevators in some dorms--will have to wait, says Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57. He adds that when space elsewhere opens up, the University might close a few Yard dorms during renovations.

Other repairs completed this summer included storm window and light fixture replacements and the addition of erasable message boards and mail baskets on suite entry doors.

Roofwork was also performed on some of the houses.

Grading, Content Of Ec 10 Changed

Students who have shied away from Ec 10 because, of its stiff grading scale and mathematical emphasis should take heart: the course heads have made a number of changes this year designed to bring the class more in line with student expectations.

The coursewide curve is being loosened to make it comparable with other Core classes, and professors have developed a new formula to lessen grade competition within individual sections, according to Assistant Professor of Economics Douglas W. Elmendorf, who teaches the class with Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein '61.

Elmendorf said the year-long introductory economics course--officially called Social Analysis 10, "Principles of Economics"--will also deemphasize algebra during the macroeconomics half of the course. He said Ec 10, traditionally one of Harvard's most popular courses, will instead introduce more material on current economic issues.

Other changes include more closely integrating lecture material into sections and adding new topics, Elmendorf said. They will include poverty, the economics of health care, the environment and protectionism, he said.

Women's Leadership Conference Begins

Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates gathered yesterday to kick off the five-day Women's Leadership Conference, sponsored by Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and the Institute of Politics.

The conference, now in its second year, is designed to bring together student leaders with prominent local and national women to discuss the status of women in modern society, said student steering committee members.

"[The conference's purpose] is just that if you want to be in a powerful position, here are some skills you need to succeed, and here are some people to help you," said committee member Roberta J. Kellman '90.

Approximately 40 students, University administrators, and some of the week's scheduled guest speakers gathered yesterday in the Cronkhite Center for brunch and speeches by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister of Liberia, and Dr. Susan Ware, an associate professor of history at New York University.

The conference will run through Thursday and will feature 24 other guest speakers, including former New York City Council President Carol Bellamy and Ambassador Diana Lady Dougan, a former assistant secretary of state.

There will also be smaller discussion groups during the week to allow conference participants to discuss the speeches and workshops.

Conference participants were selected last spring, and the events are not open to the public.

Some students at yesterday's session said they attended the conference to learn practical skills necessary to fight the problems that keep women from achieving.

Development Officer Mansfield Dead at 56

Memorial services were held Saturday morning in Lexington for University Development Officer Margaret B. Mansfield, who was killed in an automobile accident last month. She was 56.

Mansfield was killed on Aug. 31 while she was vacationing in southern France. Her daughter Mary Wefald, 29, and son-in-law Eric Wefald, were also killed in the accident.

Mansfield, who was director of the Harvard-Radcliffe Parents Fund, was born and lived in the Soviet Union before she immigrated to the United States as a small child.

Mansfield graduated from Vassar College in 1953 and then studied at the London School of Economics. In 1980, she joined Harvard's development office after working for the University Treasurer.