Project ADAPT is Making Improvements

To the editors:

Careful readers of "Faculty Blasts $112M Computer Systems" on Project ADAPT (News, March 21) should be skeptical about The Crimson's reporting.

No one promised us that the implementation of these systems would be easy, and it certainly hasn't been. One component of ADAPT, the travel reimbursement system, provides unacceptable performance, and a major redesign is underway. But most of the systems perform reasonably well, and we are learning to use their powerful features more effectively as time goes on.

It's certainly appropriate for The Crimson to report the comments of dissatisfied faculty and staff members. In particular, however, there were three bits of editorialization that were unwarranted.

One laughable front-page graph, for example, purports to compare Project ADAPT's budget to that of Harvard's faculties. A reader glancing at the graph might conclude that we are spending more each year on ADAPT than on the Law School. This is false. In truth, the graph showed total spending for the multi-year Project ADAPT in one bar, next to separate bars for the annual spending of each of the faculties.

The labelling of comments from my colleagues in other schools as "The Party Line" suggests that they do not feel free to express their own opinions, and that Harvard is run by a communist dictatorship. Is that what The Crimson believes?

The two-inch-tall centerfold headline, "A $112 Million Mess", would be excessive--even if confined to the editorial page.

The University had no choice but to carry out Project ADAPT. The old financial systems were obsolete and unrepairable; they would simply have stopped functioning on Jan. 1, 2000. However, the Project ADAPT systems are complicated, and literally thousands of users need to be trained in using them.

My opinion is that we've come through the hardest part of the implementation. The ADAPT staff has done a great job in making changes (for example, speeding up the system that produces financial reports on research grants) in response to user requests. There's a lot more work to be done, but we're already starting to enjoy the benefits (such as better financial reporting) of the project.

Daniel S. Brody '71

March 25, 2000

The writer is the Assistant Dean for Financial Management at the Kennedy School of Government and a former Crimson editor.

Islam Embraces Women

To the editors:

In recent years, both Muslims and non-Muslims have made significant advances towards a much greater respect and understanding of each other's cultures. This being the case, the quote by Associate Dean Karen Avery '87 in "Fazili Wins Women's Leadersh Award" (News, March 17) was especially disappointing. Avery stated that Sameera Fazili '00 "has risen to the position of president of the [Harvard] Islamic Society (HIS), which is most impressive considering the group's very conservative attitude towards women."

Fazili's receiving of the Harvard College Women's Leadership Award provides an excellent opportunity to revise and reassess the classic stereotypes of Islam as intrinsically misogynistic and oppressive; it is unfortunate that Dean Avery has not been able to take advantage of this opportunity. Fazili was elected by her Muslim classmates on the basis of the many outstanding qualities Dean Avery cites. Her gender did not enter the discussion until Dean Avery brought it up. Today, as before, the Islamic Society stands committed to the equality between men and women that characterizes the foundations of the Islamic faith. It should be noted that Fazili is not the first female president of the Harvard Islamic Society, nor is she the only current female board member. The treasurer and two out of three graduate advisors are also women, making the HIS board predominantly female.

We respectfully object to the broad-brush stereotyping of our diverse ideas and viewpoints as "very conservative," particularly given the discriminatory values attached by Dean Avery to that label.

Marwah Abdalla '00

Sara Hashmi '01

Saif I. Shah Mohammed '02

Zayed Yasin '02

March 22, 2000

The writers are members of the Harvard Islamic Society.