Cabot, Lowell and Weld are as "Harvard" as names can get. A tradition of large donations from Boston bluebloods has made walking through campus feel like a stroll through a New England graveyard.

Until you pass by the Naito Chemistry Lab, or meet one of Harvard Law School's Binladin Fellows--funded by the family of accused international terrorist Osama bin Laden. Harvard's biggest donors are no longer just New England's richest--in recent decades, they have grown to include the world's richest.

With the most successful Capital Campaign and the largest endowment of any university in history, Harvard's billions are pouring in faster than ever before. In the process, Harvard is also diversifying its sources of funding, receiving money from governments, companies and private individuals as far away as Jordan or Japan.

And why shouldn't the University look overseas for cash? Think of the research possibilities the Southeast Asian Studies program would have if the Sultan of Brunei endowed them.

But some donations bring their own problems--when Osama bin Laden's name was in the headlines, Harvard officials had to defend the University's association with his family.

"It's clear the Saudi bin Laden money is being put to good use here," then-Harvard spokesperson Alex Hupp told Time Magazine.

As Harvard's foreign sources expand, University officials have subjected the donors and their gifts to the same level of scrutiny as domestic donations. This means screening out donors that might embarrass Harvard, and vetting donors' goals to make sure they fit Harvard's academic aims.

From Foreign Shores

One thing to remember, University President Neil L. Rudenstine says, is that most of the money the University gets from any donor is solicited for a specific purpose.

When Harvard wants to build a new center for research or to endow a new professorship, donors are not usually lining up outside of Mass. Hall to pay for it.

Instead, the particular school or the University Development office pursues donors who they think will be most enthusiastic about the project.

John S. Lacey in the Medical School's (HMS) News Office says that HMS generally comes up with its own projects, and then looks for money to make them happen.

"We have an idea and we present it to a donor," Lacey says.

Those potential donors are often Harvard alumni. Because of the strong international presence at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), that school is one of Harvard's leaders in international donations.

KSG Dean Joseph S. Nye says that KSG alumni represent over 130 nations on all of the continents except Antarctica.

"The president of the Jordanian Senate is also a member of the Harvard Club of Jordan," Nye wrote in an e-mail message.