Imagine a coalition of dictatorships. They want to buy Harvard a brand-new Center for the Study of Dictatorships. They want to name a professorship after Saddam Hussein. And they would pay for everything. Surely Harvard could find a plot of land on its expanding campus and some eager young professors to teach the courses.

But for the University's administrators and department heads, it's not a question of if the University could--it's a question of if the University should.

It seems like everyone wants a piece of Harvard. Governments fund visiting scholars to come here and study at Harvard's area studies centers. Private citizens and governments pay for programs and professorships at various schools.

But administrators say Harvard academics aren't up for grabs. Many donors have been involved with Harvard for years or have some personal connection to the University. The presence of alumni overseas is growing. And the University monitors gift acceptance and usage closely.

"There's a very strong line there," says University President Neil L. Rudenstine. "The guidelines for accepting gifts are very clear--we determine priorities and we determine uses."

And as sources of funding diversify, Harvard must be ever more diligent. In spite of the needs of the $2.1 billion Capital Campaign, Rudenstine and deans of the University's various graduate schools say they have turned down gifts that do not match the University's intellectual aims.

So the University says it has individual gifts firmly under control. But now imagine a much more innocuous scenario than the first.

There's a country called Oz. A lot of donors are interested in Oz--it's an economically, linguistically and culturally interesting area. A number of donors all want to donate to the study of Oz. The Department of Oz Studies has an overflowing treasury and a slew of experts teaching.