In fact, there is no greater undergraduatepassion than trying to find the like-minded.Students have formed groups specifically for SouthAsians, Asian Americans, Asian American dancers,South Asian dancers, ballroom dancers and ballet.There are clubs for African-American actors,African-American future engineers, students forchoice, students for life, linguists,neuroscientists, ecumencalists, ornithologists,C.S. Lewis fans, civil libertarians and Canadians.
The prevalence of such student groups is oftencited as evidence of a healthy, vibrantundergraduate community. The reality is that, moreoften than not, such clubs serve as ways tojustify ourselves by finding others exactly likeus. We seem to value personal comfort over thehard learning that comes from ongoing interactionwith students who have interests different fromour own.
Our Teachers
Why should we be any less selfobsessed? In manycases, you can get an appointment with aspecialist at the University Health Servicesbefore you can get into see the professor teachingyour class. And that's no compliment to UHS.
The experience of talking to some professorsmakes you wonder if it's worth it; ProfessorStephen J. Gould, he of the dinosaur-sized ego,conducts office hours in groups of 12, withstudents sitting in a circle and occasionallydaring to interrupt his soliloquys with aquestion. It's a group-worship session, withyou-know-who as God.
To his credit, Gould at least spends some ofhis time in Cambridge. Ford Professor of SocialSciences Emeritus David Riesman '34 remarked lastyear that Logan Airport has become one of the mostimportant parts of Harvard.
Faculty citizenship has never been perfect, butadministrators and even a few honest professorsacknowledge that the connections between facultyand the people who they allegedly teach havefrayed perhaps beyond repair.
"Very few professors today are willing to giveHarvard more than they take," government professorHarvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53 told The Crimson lastyear.
President Neil L. Rudenstine made a briefattempt two years ago to rescue the notion of theacademic community by calling for aUniversity-wide commitment to public service. Butthe report was drowned out at the time byadministrative squabbling, and Rudenstine has allbut dropped the theme. After four years aspresident, that remains the only annual report hehas published.
Stretching
I realize this piece sounds relentlesslynegative. I mean to be critical, not bitter. I'llalways appreciate the friends I made here,especially two: my roommate of four years and awonderful person I consider my best friend. And asa reporter and editor at The Crimson, I found agroup of young writers who love newspapers and aregenerous--maybe too generous--with their time.
But I will graduate tomorrow believing that myclassmates and I have failed to get the most ofwhat Harvard could offer. I don't know whom toblame for that. Maybe the University didn'tstretch us enough, or maybe we failed to stretchthe University.
On the occasion of her 25th Harvard-Radcliffereunion, my mother wrote about the turmoil of hertime here, then added: "and yet I remember thattime as one of shining optimism, of high energy;most of us felt we could change the world (anattitude I never detect in my children'sgeneration)."
That's the trouble with optimism. It's not likeblue eyes. You don't get it from your parents