And Yale research scientist Peter D. Hall saysconflicts are frequent when entrepreneurs serveboth on non-profit and for-profit boards.

"Something legally okay often isn't in theethical sense," Hall says. "But many non-profits,in order to survive, have to have these kinds ofrelationships."

Dr. Lachlan Forrow, coordinator of teachingprograms in medical ethics at the Harvard MedicalSchool, says it is crucial to reveal all corporaterelations.

"Conflicts of interest are common and the mostimportant responsibility for anyone with apossible conflict is being open about what it isand letting others judge whether there is aconflict," Forrow says. "The most important thingis disclosure."

And Green, the Dartmouth ethicist, says theacademic and corporate realms are very distinctand should not always be mixed.

"Sometimes business managers make the mistakeof entering into the university culture when theirexpertise is really in business, " Green says.

But members of the governing boards whoagreed to be interviewed say conflicts of interestare rare among Harvard's to officials.

"[Overseers] are there for helping Harvard andthere is no ulterior motive," says OverseerStephen B. Kay. "The overseers are just a resourcegroup who represent a lot of different walks oflife."

In fact, members of the governing boards arguethat their experiences in the corporate wouldallow them to make better-informed decisions forHarvard.

Richard A. Smith' 46--a member of theCorporation as well as CEO and board member ofGeneral Cinema Companies, Inc.--also serves asthe chair of Harcourt General, Inc. and NeimanMarcus Co. He says he learned a lot from sittingon boards of for-profit companies.

"Many problems and challenges are similar,"Smith says. "Probably the most important is thediscipline of private industry in planning andlong-range thinking in order to articulate andform objectives and describe mission of theorganization."

Geyser University Professor Henry Rosovsky, amember of the Corporation and former dean of theFaculty, says his experience as a director ofpublic corporation makes him a better contributorto Harvard.

"I have a much better understanding of howorganizations function and the problems they faceand the solutions to them," says Rosovsky adirector of Corning, Inc. and Paine Weber Group,Inc. "Corporations are supposed to have moreoutside directors, and the Harvard Corporationalso functions as a public board for Harvard.

But the not everything learned from publicboard service is valuable. Arthur L. Liman '54says the knowledge he gains as a director toEquitable Companies, Inc. has little to do withhis duties as an overseer.

"You get a sense of responsibility and howother entities do business," Liman says. "But99.999 percent of what overseers do is not relatedto what I or others have done at otherorganizations."