The University will today announce a gift of $18 million for the creation of a new center at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) dedicated to the study of human rights. The donation, the biggest ever by a KSG graduate, is one of a number of recent large gifts that appear to be clinching the overall success of the University's $2.1 billion capital campaign in its final six months.

Gregory C. Carr--the former chair of Prodigy, Inc. and a 1986 graduate of KSG--pledged $18 million in conjunction with his foundation to help start the new human rights center, which will bear his name. The gift will provide the center with an endowment and money to pay for facilities and a professorship.

The Carr Center will examine the effects of policies and actions of governments and other bodies in shaping human rights around the globe.

"The human rights movement is gaining a lot of momentum worldwide," Carr said. "But there is not a lot of university involvement yet, providing an analytical approach and telling us which strategies make the most sense. Every day when you read the newspaper, human rights is on the front page--this is the right time for the Kennedy School to weigh in on the subject."

"What Harvard does not want to be is another activist human rights organization," Carr said. "The center will research the methods, practices, policies and philosophies of those organizations."

The Center, which was not originally a goal of the Campaign, will take approximately two years to be established fully with its professorships filled and a new home outside its temporary headquarters in the Belfer Center in the KSG,according to Joseph S. Nye Jr., KSG dean.

"Human rights policy is an enormously importantissue, and since the Kennedy School's mission isto train leaders, it's something our students needto understand," Nye said. "It's an idea whose timehas come, and we're just delighted to be able tomove ahead on this."

Carr said he has been involved in human rightsfor several years and met Chinese dissident HarryWu in 1995. While there is some scholarship ofhuman rights at various law schools, he said, theyapproach the issue only in terms of the law.

KSG, Carr said, offered the opportunity to lookat human rights "in a multidisciplinary way."

Carr approached KSG about the issue, and, hesaid, "they were receptive."

For the last year, KSG has been carrying out aprototype human rights initiative, funded by Carr.

Carr said he has been "very impressed" with theprogram, and its success convinced him to donatemoney for the center.

Carr is the co-founder of Boston Technology,Inc. and served as its CEO and then chair of theboard. In 1996, he took over as chair of Prodigy,but sold a portion of his interests in theinternet services company earlier this year inorder to found the Carr foundation.

Moving Right Along

Since the beginning of the capital campaign inMay 1994, Harvard has raised $2.026 billion,according to the University Development Office.Most areas of the University have reached orsurpassed their campaign goals.

About 85 percent of living Harvard alumni havedonated money to the campaign, bringing the numberof donors to 146,000.