A sampling of what Harvard people are saying, and what others are saying about Harvard, in the press.

We're No Dartmouth

In a remarkable feat of hubris, this month's Dartmouth Alumni Magazine published a mini quiz titled, "Is Harvard Becoming More Like Dartmouth?" The magazine urges readers to "Test your ability to discriminate!" (exclamation point theirs). The quiz lists 46 facts, and asks readers to identify which apply to Harvard, which apply to Dartmouth and which apply to both. Here's a sampling:

Harvard-educated president. (Dartmouth, not Harvard)

Leader in hyperthermia research. (Harvard, not Dartmouth)

Owns land in the Florida Keys. (D, not H)

Owns a ski area. (D, not H)

Expository writing requirement. (H, not D).

And now, some fun "facts" that somehow eluded us:

Library catalog fully electronic (Dartmouth and Harvard)

In fact, only part of Harvard's library holdings are listed on HOLLIS.

Calls itself the "College on the Hill." (Dartmouth and Harvard)

That's "College on the Mount" to you, Dartmouth.

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Skipping Town

Harvard is still delirious that all-star Afro-Am scholar Henry Louis "Skip" Gates will be coming to Cambridge next fall. But at Duke, from whence Gates hails, things are not as happy. An editorial that ran in the student-run Duke University Chronicle had this to say about Skip Gates:

Harvard has offered Gates a prestigious title--chair of the nation's most renowned African-American studies program--and, undoubtedly, a raise. Fish, chair of the English department, has said Gates' leaving is an unfortunate loss to the faculty and that the department will do all it can to keep Gates here.

The University should let him go.

...Since coming here in 1989, Gates has done almost nothing for the University, its students or the English department.

...Harvard, if Gates ends up there, should beware: its new star is apt to skip town as quickly as he gets there. Nevertheless, the University is better off letting him leave. Engaging in this bidding war only sets a precedent for the future. It will be difficult to draw the line once the numbers start going up.

Although we'll have to wait to pass judgement on Gates, we feel we must call Duke's bluff on one point. Harvard's Afro-Am department is anything but "renowned." "Infamous," maybe, but definitely not "renowned."

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Some Chutzpah

It should come as no surprise that law professor and first amendment-maven Alan M. Dershowitz has titled his new book: "Chutzpah: Candid Reflections on Being Jewish in America." After all, Dershowitz is an outspoken supporter of many Jewish causes, and he is never short on chutzpah. Here, Dersh offers a definition of "chutzpah" as only he can:

I define chutzpah as boldness, a willingness to defy tradition, to demand what is due and to raise eyebrows. I want [my] book to be read by college-bound students, by the kids whose Jewishness will be challenged. I want them to be prepared.

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Harsh on Dersh

Wherever you find Dersh nowadays, you are also likely to find Dersh-bashers. Last week's Boston Globe quoted Houston lawyer Brian Wice, "On the Harvard Law School professor's predilection for publicity":

I've discovered that the most dangerous place to be in the criminal justice system is...between Alan Dershowitz and a television camera."

*****

Bound to Write

Dedicated to everyone spending long hours in Sanders Theatre listening to Historical Studies A-12 lectures, a passage from an article in the recent Daedalus on arms control. The author? Joe Nye, of course.

In short, arms control has to be seen as a political process of communication, learning, and development of institutions for international security. That will require the full fruition of the 1960 insight about the possibility of using communication to alleviate the classical problems of the prisoner's dilemma and realizing the military interdependence symbolized by the term "common security."

Guess you have to take the class to get it.