The Harvard Corporation yesterday appointed two new members--one of whom is the first black person ever to belong to the University's highest governing body.
Conrad K. Harper, who has a degree from Harvard Law School (HLS), and Herbert S. Winokur Jr. '64-'65, who also did his master's degree and doctorate at Harvard, will replace current members Judith Richards Hope and Richard A. Smith '44-'46.
Harper will be the first non-white person to serve on the Corporation. More powerful even than Harvard's larger Board of Overseers, the seven-person Corporation meets more than 16 times each year to make decisions about Harvard's academic and institutional practices.
Harper said his distinction of being the first black member of the board is merely a matter of timing and could have gone to many qualified people before him.
"There are many persons of color who might have had that distinction," Harper said. "I think that the issue of diversity of students and faculty and staff are permanent issues for American society."
President Neil L. Rudenstine said diversifying Harvard's upper echelons is crucial to the University.
As Hope, a Washington-based attorney, leaves the board, Harper will become the resident legal expert.
He is a partner in the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. He has also worked as a legal adviser to the U.S. State Department.
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