LETTERS

Editor: John S. Rosenberg Executive Editor: Christopher Reed Senior Editor: Jean Martin Managing Editor: Jonathan S. Shaw Deputy Editor: Craig Lambert Cambridge 02138 Production and New Media Manager: Mark Felton Eliot’s five-foot shelf—and yours, Harvard history, sleep Assistant Editor: Nell Porter Brown

Art Director: Jennifer Carling e-foot Shelf” • The “Five • Installation Ceremony Japan’s Malaise Berta Greenwald Ledecky

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V MIGHTY MOSQUITOES, TICKS ARD Undergraduate Fellows

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v Spielman’s work and citing his views ember (“The Landscape Infections,” November- -December Terry Baynes, Julie Goldman,

2001 Harriett Green, Jennie Timoney December 2001, page 43), Jonathan Shaw

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• are not an important food for any other MOSQUIT Harbour Fraser Hodder, Christopher S.

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REVISITE judgment jarring in the midst of an other- Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037

D wise scientific primer on the natural his- Tel. 617-495-5746; fax: 617-495-0324 tory of what are undeniably some of Website: www.harvard-magazine.com Earth’s most successful life forms. commentary of your economists on the Reader services: Angus A. Murdoch, C ’91 issue of Harvard workers’ pay, as if it 617-495-5746 or 800-648-4499 Kents Store, Va. were a complicated matter (“Ways and Means: Harvard’s Wage Debate,” Novem- HARVARD MAGAZINE INC. President: I had dengue fever and seven bouts of ber-December 2001, page 69). Some things Daniel Steiner ’54, LL.B. ’58 Directors: malaria in New Guinea during World are very simple and this is one of them. Je≠rey S. Behrens ’89, Peter K. Bol, James O. Freedman ’57, L ’60, War II. DDT was once a weapon against An appropriate reference in this case is Philip C. Haughey ’57, Elizabeth C. malaria, but segue to a Rush Limbaugh the Golden Rule. Or pose a question like, Huidekoper, Anthony Lewis ’48, Nf ’57, question: Who is responsible for more “Are the rich and powerful entitled to Lisa L. Martin, Ph.D. ’90, John P. deaths—Hitler, Stalin, or Rachel Carson? drive hard bargains with the weaker and Reardon Jr. ’60 Answer: Hitler, 7 million; Stalin, 20 mil- poor, after doing everything to deprive lion; Carson, 100 million. Or was it 200 the latter of allies (union representation) Harvard Magazine (ISSN 0095-2427) is published bimonthly by Harvard Magazine Inc., a nonprofit corporation, 7 Ware million? She led the fight to ban or reduce in the bargaining?” The matter becomes Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, phone 617-495-5746; fax the use of DDT, leading to a resurgence of particularly disgusting when the rich and 617-495-0324. The magazine is supported by reader contribu- tions and subscriptions, advertising revenue, and a subven- mosquitoes and deaths. powerful entity is a great university with tion from Harvard University. Its editorial content is the re- William B. Simmons ’50 sponsibility of the editors. Periodicals postage paid at the motto “Veritas.” Boston, Mass., and additional mailing o≠ices. Postmaster: Lexington, Mass. Everlasting credit goes to the students, Send address changes to Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037. Subscription rate $30 a year in faculty, and others who can see clearly U.S. and possessions, $55 Canada and Mexico, $75 other for- Your article eign. (Allow up to 10 weeks for first delivery.) Subscription suggests that ticks are in- and spend time and e≠ort for justice. In orders and customer service inquiries should be sent to the sects. Ticks are arachnids, not insects. witnessing, they are experiencing an edu- Circulation Department, Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Robert C. Murphy ’38, M.D. Cambridge, Mass. 02138-4037, or call 617-495-5746 or 800- cation in giving an education—to the 648-4499, or e-mail [email protected]. Single copies $4.95, plus $2.50 for postage and handling. Manu- Sheridan, Wyo. great University and the world. script submissions are welcome, but we cannot assume re- I hope the alumni who sympathize sponsibility for safekeeping. Include stamped, self-ad- dressed envelope for manuscript return. Persons wishing to THE GOLDEN RULE OF WAGES with this view will make themselves reprint any portion of Harvard Magazine’s contents are re- One of the dangers of a terrific edu- known to President Lawrence H. Sum- quired to write in advance for permission. Address inquiries to Catherine A. Chute, publisher, at the address given cation is loss of common sense. A good mers and the Harvard Corporation. Lord above. Copyright © 2002, Harvard Magazine Inc. example of this is the learned, verbose knows, there will be many others indif-

2 January - February 2002

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com ferent or hostile to even a very modest policy on living wages. So it’s important to stand and be counted on this issue. “ Thomas Blandy ’54, M.Arch. ’60 Troy, N.Y. Common In particular, Professor N. Gregory Mankiw’s case against the living wage is Sense both striking as well as internally con- sistent. Perhaps a University-wide task TM force should be established to assure that Harvard pays no “more than it needs to, Investing” given the competitive labor markets in which it hires.” As Mankiw recognizes, Michael F. Holland ’66 this should apply to all levels of the Uni- versity’s personnel. The task force might ® begin with the president and deans, move HOLLAND BALANCED FUND on to University professors, thence to • Personally Managed and Singularly Focused those holding named chairs, and so forth. • 40% US Treasurys and 60% Blue Chip Stocks Overall, one might anticipate no change in teaching quality and minimal diminu- For more complete information about the Holland Balanced Fund, including charges and expenses, call 1-800-304-6552, tion of research productivity at the same or visit our website at www.hollandbalancedfund.com. time that very substantial aggregate sav- Distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc. ings could be achieved by salary reduc- tions in the 10 percent to 15 percent range. Although greater savings might be real- ized from the higher-salaried employees, I www.hollandbalancedfund.com am certain worthwhile savings can be 1-800-304-6552 found by extending the review even to the sta≠ of Harvard Magazine. I commend Mankiw for his cold-eyed realism. Stephen Dell ’65, M.D. Oakland, Calif.

ABOLISH STUDENT DEBT I write as a Princeton alumnus and Har- vard parent (’93 and ’95) to urge Harvard to emulate Princeton’s abolition of stu- dent loans in favor of scholarships. With the second-largest endowment per stu- dent of any international university, Har- vard has a moral obligation to lift the debt (and fear) from the shoulders and hearts of its students. Stewardship of great re- sources commands generosity. Cuthbert Russell Train Mount Desert Island, Me.

SCHOLARLY CROSS-DRESSING Helen vendler’s delightful reminis- cence of Harvard in the 1950s and later (“Ups and Downs with Harvard,” No- vember-December 2001, page 48) brought on much nostalgia for my late-forties and early-fifties days at the Graduate School of Education. Since the school was coed (yes!), I missed many of the gender has- sles that beset Vendler. But one time I needed a book that wasn’t in the school li-

Harvard Magazine 3

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com brary. Ed School students could use La- Kirsch himself considers what would be mont during summer sessions, but not the “most important step toward updat- other times. I found out I was the right ing the series for 2001,” he suggests sub- gender but in the wrong school to use the stituting Melville for Dana and Tolstoy for Radcli≠e library, and apparently the Manzoni, as well as adding Ibsen, Strind- wrong gender for Widener. How to bor- berg, Chekhov, Lawrence, Proust, Joyce, Publisher: Catherine A. Chute row the book? I pulled on my Levi jeans, Mann, and Kafka. I find it curious indeed Financial Manager zipped up the leather jacket that made me that poet and critic Adam Kirsch ’97 does Melissa Robinson-Healey look flat-chested, and stu≠ed my fairly not mention in this list such writers as Director of Circulation: short hair into a wool cap. Then somehow Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Felecia Carter I obliterated my first name on my li- Emily Dickinson, George Eliot, Harriet Director of Marketing brary/I.D. card. Thus accoutered, I made Beecher Stowe, Zora Neale Hurston, Eriko D. Ogawa my way past a sleepy student clerk to ac- Sylvia Plath, Toni Morrison—and even Director of Advertising cess whatever piece of information was Woolf herself. Edward S. Antos worth so much scheming. Charlotte Margolis Goodman, M.A.T. ’56 Advertising Account Manager Margaret S. Rusk, Ed.M. ’51 Professor emerita of English, Skidmore College Robert D. Fitta Syracuse, N.Y. Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Classified Advertising Manager Marron M. Hahn WOMEN’S ISSUES Kirsch writes, “It is surprisingly easy, Circulation Assistant: It is distressing Lucia Santos that some are still even today, to find a complete set of the Assistant to the Publisher / concerned that we use the term “hu- Harvard Classics in good condition. At Office Manager: Sara Stillman mankind”—which, we are told (“Letters,” least one is usually for sale on eBay…for Business Interns: November-December 2001, page 4), has $300 or so…” Our search has shown that Megan Ga≠ney, Anna Joo, Vera Leung been in widespread use for at least a certain volumes are available individually decade—instead of the term “mankind,” with relative ease, while others are as rare IVY LEAGUE MAGAZINE NETWORK as used on your September-October 2001 as hens’ teeth. Any idea where nonfiction Director of Advertising cover, which has been very generally ac- volumes numbers 8, 9, 31, and 49, i.e., re- Edward S. Antos, Tel. 617-496-7207 cepted to mean exactly the same thing spectively, Nine Greek Dramas, Letters Director of Sales Development since Biblical times. and Treatises of Cicero and Pliny, the Au- Lawrence J. Brittan, Tel. 631-754-4264 Perhaps someone today might find it tobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, and useful to develop a scholarly article on the Popular Epics and Sagas, could be found? New York Advertising Sales treatment of women in Muslim countries. A greatly appreciated article! Jack Higgons, Tel. 212-852-5630 Comments appearing sporadically in the Thomas F. Faught, M.B.A. ’53 Tom Schreckinger, Tel. 212-852-5625 media indicate that this treatment ranges Murrysville, Pa. Travel Advertising Sales from humiliating and degrading to in- Michael F. Faught ’79 Fieldstone Associates, Tel. 914-686-0442 credibly and appallingly barbarous. Not Playa del Rey, Calif. Detroit Advertising Sales much comment on this vast and terrible Wynkoop Associates, Tel. 248-373-1026 tragedy a≠ecting a billion or so women Socrates was not condemned “by Chicago Advertising Sales has reached the general press, and it cer- the assembly of Athens,” pace Kirsch. He Robert Purdy, Tel. 312-726-7800 tainly makes quibbling about nomencla- was condemned in a court of jurors by a Board of Incorporators ture seem quite trivial by comparison. vote of 280 to 220. His ideals and patrio- Robert O. Boardman, M.B.A. ’63 tism did not allow him to break the law This magazine, at first called the Harvard Bulletin, was founded in 1898. Its Board of Incorporators was New Bedford, Mass. and avoid drinking the hemlock. Earlier chartered in 1924 and remains active in the maga- (in 406 b.c.) the patriotic and idealistic zine’s governance. The membership is as follows: ELIOT’S HARVARD CLASSICS Socrates actually served briefly as epistates Daniel Steiner ’54, LL.B. ’58, president; Stephen J. Bai- Adam kirsch, ley, AMP ’94; William I. Bennett ’62, M.D. ’69; John in “The Five-Foot Shelf or chairman of the Athenian assembly. In T. Bethell ’54; Fox Butterfield ’61, A.M. ’64; Charles Reconsidered” (November-December a related reference, Kirsch fails to put in C. Cabot ’52, LL.B. ’57; Jonathan S. Cohn ’91; Philip 2001, page 51), points out some glaring perspective the Passion of Jesus Christ M. Cronin ’53, J.D. ’56; John de Cuevas ’52; Casimir de Rham ’46, J.D. ’49; James F. Dwinell III ’62; Anne omissions among the books Charles and its primacy in the Gospels—namely, Fadiman ’74; James O. Freedman ’57, L ’60; Benjamin William Eliot chose in 1910 for the Har- for the remission of sins. M. Friedman ’66, Ph.D. ’71; Robert H. Giles, Nf ’66; vard Classics, books that Eliot hoped Lloyd B. Urdahl ’45, A.M. ’49 Owen Gingerich, Ph.D. ’62; James Glassman ’69; Adam K. Goodheart ’92; Max Hall, Nf ’50; Brian R. would serve as a testament to the “pro- Rochester, N.Y. Hecht ’92; Sarah Bla≠er Hrdy ’68, Ph.D. ’75; Ellen gress of man…from the earliest historical Hume ’68; David O. Ives ’41, M.B.A. ’43; Bill Kovach, times to the close of the nineteenth cen- Kirsch’s fine article led me to ponder Nf ’89; Florence Ladd, BI ’72; Anthony Lewis ’48, Nf ’57; Henry Lyman ’37; Scott Malkin ’80, J.D./M.B.A. tury.” Kirsch begins his own article with two thorny issues. The first, which Kirsch ’83; David McClintick ’62; Harriet Ritvo ’68, Ph.D. a quotation from Virginia Woolf, and he acknowledges, is that while the “great ’75; Nora Sayre ’54; Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D. ’78; notes Eliot’s “total exclusion of female au- books” approach to education is viable in Theda Skocpol, Ph.D. ’75; Peter A. Spiers ’76; William O. Taylor ’54; Sherry Turkle ’69, Ph.D. ’76; Robert H. thors,” asserting that such an omission the humanities, it’s useless in the sci- Weiss ’54; Elizabeth Winship ’43; Jan Ziolkowski. “would be impossible today.” Yet when ences, something that reflects a funda-

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com mental and uncomfortable asymmetry minded Stoic for whom the ideal work of haps our fault? Is it not possible to both between the fields. The sciences are too philosophy was Franklin’s autobiography, understand literature and be willing to di∞cult to be learned by Eliot’s 15-min- “a book that shows a man overcoming ob- judge it morally? utes-a-day reading regime. And the books stacles, doing useful work, going to bed Alejandro Jenkins ’01 of Copernicus, Newton, and Faraday are early, and rising healthy, wealthy, and Pasadena, Calif. of little interest to modern practicing sci- wise.” In our age, intellectuals have come entists, who can better learn their ideas, to regard artistic and emotional intensity Kirsch’s repeated insistence on in- purified and updated, from textbooks. as goods in themselves. The man who cluding works of Karl Marx in an up- The second issue is raised by Kirsch’s goes to bed early is not as interesting to dated five-foot shelf of classics is a disap- portrayal of Eliot as a quaintly narrow- us as the poète maudit, but is this not per- pointing illustration of the shibboleths

YOUR HARVARD CLASSICS The “Five-foot Shelf” The Tale of Genji, Lady Reconsidered by ADAM KIRSCH “What books would you Women Artists 1550-1950, Ann Murasaki Illustrations by Tom Mosser choose for a twenty-first Sutherland Harris and The Story of the Stone, Cao “On or about december, century Harvard Classics?” Linda Nochlin Xueqin 1910,” Virginia Woolf the editors asked readers Giovanni wrote, “human character Feminism and Art History, The Decameron, changed.” Woolf was not (November-December, page Norma Broude and Mary Boccaccio referring to a specific event so much as to a new 56), inviting them to submit Garrard City of God, Saint Augustine cultural climate, a new way of looking at the lists of 10 books, excluding Rembrandt’s Aristotle and Other Ulysses, James Joyce world, that would be- various titles and authors Julius Held Marcus Aurelius come known as mod- Rembrandt Studies, Meditations, ernism. When he finished deemed likely consensus John Adams, David McCullough —from Drew Chuppe ’83, A.M. his introduction to the Har- vard Classics in March of choices. By press time, 38 The Anxiety of Influence, Harold ’88, G ’90, of South Bend, Indiana that same year, Charles William Eliot could hardly lists were in hand. The book Bloom have guessed that such a change was just over the horizon. Yet it chosen most often was James A Marginal Jew, John P. Meier Selected Poems, Sappho is tempting to think that his “five-foot shelf” of Joyce’s Ulysses (six times), —from Alicia Craig Faxon, Selected Writings, Hildegard of books, chosen as a record of the “progress of man…from the earliest historical times to the close of followed by Lectures on Physics, A.M. ’53, of Jamaica Plain, Bingen the nineteenth century,” was meant as a time cap- by Richard Feynman (four). Massachusetts The Tale of Genji, Lady sule from that era just about to end. In 50 volumes Some examples: Murasaki Harvard Magazine 51 Childhood and Society, Erik Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, The Art of War, Sun Tzu Erikson Simone de Beauvoir Collected Poems, William The Praise of Folly, Desiderius Sartor Resartus, Thomas Carlyle The Princess of Clèves, Mme. de Butler Yeats Erasmus The Origin of Consciousness in the Lafayette —from a member of the class of Pensées, Blaise Pascal Breakdown of the Bicameral A Room of One’s Own, Virginia ’68 who wishes anonymity Emma, Jane Austen Mind, Julian Jaynes Woolf Either/Or, Søren Kierkegaard The Double Helix, James Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen From other lists: D.H. Law- The Brothers Karamozov, Watson Frankenstein, Mary rence, Lady Chatterly’s Lover; Fyodor Dostoevsky Our Town, Thornton Wilder Wollstonecraft Shelley Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vani- Le Rouge et le Noir, Stendhal The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit Beloved, Toni Morrison ties; Arthur Conan Doyle, The War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy of Capitalism, Max Weber Complete Poems, Emily Dickinson Complete Sherlock Holmes; Kath- Thus Spake Zarathustra, The Genealogy of Morals, —from Ann M. Moore ’61, of arine Graham, Personal His- Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche Hampton, Virginia tory; Chinua Achebe, Anthills À la Recherche du Temps Law in Modern Society, of the Savannah; Heinrich Böll, Perdu, Marcel Proust Roberto Unger The Human Comedy, Honoré de Billiards at Half-Past Nine; Al- —from Percy Crosby, Ph.D. ’60, The Idea of a Christian Society, Balzac fred C. Kinsley, Sexual Behav- of Mesa, Arizona T.S. Eliot I and Thou, Martin Buber ior in the Human Male; Tony Consilience, Edward O. Wilson On War, Carl von Clausewitz Kushner, Angels in America; Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, —from Richard B. Bloom ’76, The Journey to the West, Wu Hunter Thompson, Fear and and Northanger Abbey, Jane of Bristol, Pennsylvania Cheng’en Loathing in Las Vegas; Alexan- Austen The Sound and the Fury, der Hamilton, James Madi- The Return of the Prodigal Son, The History of the Persian Wars, William Faulkner son, and John Jay, The Federal- Henri Nouwen Herodotus One Hundred Years of Solitude, ist Papers; Alfred Marshall, The Man Born to Be King, He That The Peloponnesian War, Gabriel García Márquez Principles of Economics; J. An- Shall Come, and Gaudy Night, Thucydides Moby Dick, Herman Melville thony Lukas, Common Ground; Dorothy L. Sayers War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy Gargantua and Pantagruel, Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonder- The Wasteland and Four Quartets, The Brothers Karamazov, François Rabelais land; Samuel Eliot Morison, T.S. Eliot Fyodor Dostoevsky War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy Three Centuries of Harvard.

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com that remain about economic-political Eliot’s compilation—and presumably ideas that have been fully explored and therefore should not be undertaken—it “I want to discredited. I doubt that Kirsch would would lead to the conclusion that there recommend reading Das Kapital if he had should be no new anthologies at all and control my ever tried to read it himself. To place it that no attempt should be made to pro- alongside Adam Smith is blasphemy. In vide a broad history of the thinking and fact, if the shelf is to be what it purports learning that have led to our culture be- own legacy.” to be, a record of human progress, includ- cause it can never be complete. ing Marx would be a step in the wrong To make clear my interest and possible direction. It is progress to omit him be- prejudice, I was for 12 years a member of To ensure that you manage your cause we have progressed beyond him. the governing board of St. John’s College own legacy make thoughtful estate Lawrence Cranberg, A.M. ’40 in Annapolis and Santa Fe, where the planning a high priority. Putting Austin, Tex. Great Books are used almost exclusively yourself in control of what you’ll be leaving to your loved ones and the as texts. causes you care about is a lifelong I was surprised that Kirsch made no K. Martin Worthy, M.B.A. ’43 learning process. With that in mind, mention of the very similar collection en- Sea Island, Ga. Harvard offers seminars to help you titled The Great Books of the Western learn how to shape your legacy in a World, compiled a few years after Eliot’s MORE ON A HARVARD HISTORY way that reflects your unique inter- Classics appeared by Robert Hutchins, In the course of his review of our book ests and concerns. sometime president of the University of Making Harvard Modern (“A High-Priced These sessions are led by Chicago, with the help of Mortimer Adler Product,” September-October 2001, page Thomas C. Rogerson, a principal and others. The Great Books contain 54 22), Professor Alvin Kernan has gener- and director of wealth preservation volumes, and it is quite interesting to ously shared his thoughts on the present services at State Street Global Advisors. A nationally known compare the two compilations. It appears state of American universities. But in the speaker, Mr. Rogerson provides to me that 12 of the 50 volumes of the Har- course of unburdening himself, he slight- participants with an overview of the vard Classics are duplicated in full, and 13 ed that other obligation of the reviewer: gift and estate tax structure, strate- other volumes duplicated in substantial to give the reader some idea of the con- gies for transferring wealth to family part in the Great Books. Or, to look at it tents of the book under review. members, property ownership another way, 16 of the 54 volumes of the As its title indicates, Making Harvard issues, the use of charitable and non- Great Books are duplicated in full, and 11 Modern describes how Harvard evolved charitable trusts, and more. This is a seminar you won’t want to miss. others duplicated in substantial part, in from the relatively parochial, Brahmin- the Harvard Classics. dominated, socially snobbish institution Several selections which Kirsch regrets of Lowell’s era, to the increasingly merito- Harvard University’s Financial are not in the Harvard Classics—Aristo- cratic university of the Conant and Pusey and Estate Planning Seminars tle, Hegel, Chaucer, Melville’s Moby Dick, years, and then, under Bok and Ruden- Tolstoy, Marx, Freud, and Plato’s Sympo- stine, into the diverse, socially engaged, Boston, November 3, 2001 sium, Republic, and Phaedrus—are all in the worldly Harvard of today. Los Angeles, March 9, 2002 Great Books, as is at least one other not in In telling this tale, we dwelt on those the Classics—Hegel—which the maga- aspects of Harvard’s history that in our San Francisco, April 20, 2002 zine editors suggest would be a consen- view lay at the core of its transformation. sus choice if a new edition of the Classics One was the internal history of Harvard’s For more information or to register were published [see “Your Harvard Clas- departments, schools, and disciplines: for a seminar, please contact: sics,” page 5]. On the other hand, the how they adapted (or failed to adapt) to Barbara G. S. Kroft Bible, Tao Te Ching, Bhagavad-Gita, and the forces of academic change. Another University Planned Giving the Koran, also mentioned by the editors was the role (and limits) of presidential Harvard University as consensus choices, with others, are in and decanal leadership. Yet another was 124 Mount Auburn Street neither the Classics nor the Great Books. the governance of a University ever more Cambridge, MA 02138-5795 Kirsch fails to note that Harvard presi- embroiled in public and private fundrais- PHONE dent James B. Conant once wrote that for ing, growing bureaucracy, and the world (800) 446-1277 a better understanding of science, there outside (the Depression, World War II, (617) 495-4647 should be translated into English and McCarthyism, Vietnam, civil rights, femi- published in a single collection Coperni- nism, et cetera). FAX cus’s De Revolutionibus, writings of Kepler, We regret that these themes—surely (617) 495-8130 Galileo, Lavoisier, and Galvani, and Vesa- not marginal in the history of any mod- EMAIL lius’s De Fabrica, all but the latter two of ern American university—did not regis- [email protected] which are in the Great Books. ter on Kernan’s radar. He takes us to task As to Kirsch’s final suggestion that the for focusing on “the myriad shiny sur- compilation today of a new Harvard Clas- faces that administration by its nature sics would soon be just as inadequate as deals with.” Surely it is untoward for a

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com literary scholar, whose subject matter by definition is incorporeal, to so airily dis- miss the story of how a great university is governed. When you give Save taxes He thinks that we complacently believe that Harvard “managed to save its meri- cash, stock, or other tocratic soul” while evolving into the Support Harvard worldly University of today. As if to un- property to a Harvard derline our indi≠erence to political cor- life income plan, you: rectness, he quotes a professor’s lament Receive an income for life on its pervasiveness in the Divinity School, and cites the appearance of that statement in an earlier issue of Harvard Magazine. We o≠er another place where that lament may be found: Making Harvard Modern, page 355. “ Kernan conjures up another chimera: arvard gave me our failure to portray the “student experi- H ence.” That is because we do not believe any such thing exists. Thousands of tal- ented, lively young people have experi- more than I ences; they don’t have an experience. We did indeed, and at length, try to describe some of these. As his book In Plato’s Cave makes clear, bargained Kernan does not have much use for today’s universities, and more particularly for postmodernism and its leading expo- nents (several of whom he taught, but For further information, who, like Lear’s children, turned out to be for!” please contact: ungrateful). We cannot imagine that his Anne D. McClintock academic bêtes noires will find our book an apologia for their world view. At the same Amy Goldman time, we regret that we could not match Greta M. Morgan Planned Giving Kernan’s level of outrage over the state of Jonathan P. Chines at Harvard the modern university. We can only plead that as historians we tried to understand University Planned Giving and explain, not condemn. But we do Harvard University take comfort from this critique by a voice 124 Mount Auburn Street of the academic Right: it better prepares us for the critiques we expect from the Cambridge, MA academic Left. It is by such means that 02138-5795 Graduate School of Arts & Sciences • historians measure their success in de- scribing the way things were. PHONE Business School • Harvard College • Morton Keller, Ph.D. ’56 (800) 446-1277 School of Dental Medicine • Graduate Phyllis Keller, RI ’71 (617) 495-4647 School of Design • Divinity School • Cambridge FAX Graduate School of Education • Extension Congrats to Kernan for his excellent (617) 495-8130 School • Kennedy School of Government • and much-needed critique of Keller and EMAIL Keller’s book. The world being what it is [email protected] Law School • Medical School • School of these days, one may call today’s Harvard Public Health • Radcliffe Institute for “corporate,” “postmodern,” “relativistic” WEBSITE (or use several other fashionable labels), www.haa.harvard.edu/pgo Advanced Study • Arnold Arboretum • but cannot call it anymore a meritocratic Art Museums • The Memorial Church place whose main goal is the unbiased search for Truth and Knowledge. There is a price to be paid for the spiritual confu- sion and emptiness created by this

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Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com change, and it will be paid by the very At Cornell, Professor James Maas, whose Editor’s note: As to the oversight, our soul of this nation. (Maybe we have introductory psychology course has al- apologies. As to “Hawaiian,” not accord- started paying for this already...) most 2,000 students registered, gives six ing to our dictionary. George Christakos, Ph.D. ’90 weeks to sleep-related material. I’m sure Chapel Hill, N.C. Cohen would agree that the material NOSTRA CULPA should always be included in any intro- The magazine kindly published a letter Kernan presents some very interesting ductory psychology course. Clearly, some- of mine about the toga-clad orator in the ideas, but in the process gives rather short thing is badly needed at Harvard College. Latin diploma riots of 1961 (September- shrift to the work he is reviewing. In fact, William C. Dement, M.D. October 2001, page 10), but changed my Morton and Phyllis Keller have written a Director, Stanford Sleep Research Center first name from “Jack” to “John.” I would fascinating account of Harvard during Palo Alto, Calif. have let this pass, but for the fact that a much of the twentieth century. Though of follow-up missive in the November-De- great value to scholars assessing the state WOUNDED VIRGINIA cember issue mentioned the letter that of higher education generally, Making Har- The editors refer (November-Decem- “John” had written. Now I know how vard Modern is of even greater value to Har- ber 2001, page 4) to the terrorist attacks Jack Harvard must have felt. vard and Radcli≠e alumni interested in on September 11 against New York City Jack Sando ’62, J.D. ’65 placing their own experience in historical “and Washington, D.C.” In the interest of Bethesda, Md. context. Readers of this review are also accuracy, there was no terrorist attack on unlikely to recognize that the book is a Washington, D.C. The loss of life, damage, CULPA PRIMI delight to read, its authors displaying a and destruction occurred entirely within I question the report by Primus V wonderfully light touch, a delicious sense the Commonwealth of Virginia, specific- (“The College Pump,” November-Decem- of humor, and just the right degree of ally Arlington County, in which the Pen- ber 2001, page 96) that at the installation skepticism about the World’s Greatest tagon is located. The governor of Virginia of John Leverett as president of Harvard University, an institution they admire but has asked for $1.3 billion in disaster relief on January 14, 1708, it was Judge Samuel see in perspective. in connection with the attack. Sewall, A.B. 1661, who gave an oration in E.L. Pattullo James B. Cook Jr., M.B.A. ’60 Latin. My copy of the Diary of Samuel Sewall Winchester, Mass. Chester, Va. has Joseph Sewall, A.B. 1708, Samuel’s son, giving the Latin oration. SLEEPING 101 QUARTERBACKS FROM HAWAII President Eliot considered the Autobiog- An ex-student who left Stanford and I was stung by the statement (“Button- raphy of Benjamin Franklin a classic [see page got his Ph.D. at Harvard sent me a copy of hook and Aloha,” September-October 2001, 4]. What about Judge Sewall’s diary? Arianne Cohen’s “Undergraduate” col- page 77): “[Neil] Rose is the first Hawaiian Christopher Niebuhr ’56 umn, “Sleeping Smarter” (November-De- Harvard quarterback since the all-Ivy Milt Lee, Mass. cember 2001, page 83). It was truly Holt ’75.” magnificent and from a personal perspec- Born and raised in Hawaii, I played quart- Editor’s note: Primus erred. His source tive the best review my book The Promise of erback at Punahou School in Honolulu. In was Samuel Eliot Morison’s Three Centuries Sleep has ever received. I would like per- 1992 I entered Harvard as a grateful recruit of Harvard. Morison writes that “Sir Se- mission to include it of former head foot- wall” delivered the oration. Primus pre- in the course reader ball coach Joe Restic. sumed that Joseph, a mere undergraduate, for my undergraduate I was one of several would not have been called “Sir” by his course, Human Biol- backups who played contemporaries or Morison. But no. As ogy 11/Psychology 126: behind starting quar- the historian explains elsewhere, seniors “Sleep and Dreams.” terbacks Mike Giardi were entitled to the baccalaureate “Sir” As far as I know, and Vin Ferrara from after the end of their class recitations on the only universities 1992 to 1994. I also March 10, not needing to wait until Com- where a really good served as an under- mencement. Joseph was nearly entitled. comprehensive and graduate assistant authoritative under- coach in 1995. My graduate course on commitment to my SPEAK UP, PLEASE sleep is taught are teammates was un- Harvard Magazine welcomes letters on Brown (taught by wavering and my con- its contents. Please write to “Letters,” Professor Mary Carskadon) and Stanford. tribution to the program was significant. Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cam- Even at Stanford, two of the most—if not You should also be aware that your use bridge 02138, or send comments by the most—powerful determinants of of the term “Hawaiian” is incorrect: “Rose facsimile to 617-495-0324, or by e-mail human behavior, sleep debt and clock-de- has been a Hawaiian since age five.” The to [email protected], or use our pendent alerting, are completely ignored term is reserved for those who are of na- Internet site, www.harvard-maga- by academic psychology: knowledge tive Hawaiian descent. zine.com. Letters may be edited to fit about sleep has not been incorporated Michael A. Maciszewski ’96 the available space. into the introductory department course. Los Angeles

8 January - February 2002 Photomontage by Flint Born

Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For copyright and reprint information, contact Harvard Magazine, Inc. at www.harvardmagazine.com