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Cambridge 02138 Production and New Media Manager: Mark Felton Eliot’S five-Foot Shelf—And Yours, Harvard History, Sleep Assistant Editor: Nell Porter Brown 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 HAR V MIGHTY MOSQUITOES, TICKS ARD Undergraduate Fellows MA Reporting on entomologist Andrew GAZINE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2001 • $4.95 Arianne R. Cohen, Eugenia V. Levenson N Editorial Interns: o 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 P R writes that mosquitoes “suck protein ESIDENTIAL Contributing Editors from birds, reptiles, and mammals, and INST ALL John T. Bethell, John de Cuevas, Adam A T seem to serve no higher purpose—they ION Goodheart, Max Hall, Jim Harrison, • are not an important food for any other MOSQUIT Harbour Fraser Hodder, Christopher S. OES • Johnson, Deborah Schneider, creature, nor do they do useful things like JAP A N ’S Deborah Smullyan, Mark Steele, pollinate flowers.” MAL A e ISE Th Janet Tassel, Edward Tenner • The moral purpose of human beings THE “FIVE-FOO Mosquito may or may not intersect with that of the Editorial and Business O≠ice T mosquito. In any event, I found such a SHEL Menace F ” 7 Ware Street, 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.
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