Mighty Corporation Supervises University

At first sight, the innocent Freshman would think that Harvard, with its welter of governing boards, is a combination of American alphabet soup and British bureaucratic verbosity. Actually, the organization contains a clear hierarchy of authority from Student Council up through the all-powerful Board of Overseers.

The real control, however, lies in the bands of seven men, known as the Corporation. Back in 1650, Governor Dudley approved a charter which gave to the "President and Fellowes" of Harvard College a self-perpetuating body, the power to "make from tyme to tyme such orders & Bylawes for the better ordering & carying on the worke of the College as they shall thinck fitt."

Overseers Have Final Control

After combining the legislative and executive control of the College in one group, the Puritan fathers later established a separate body to have the final control over policies. The Board of Overseers, a group of 30 alumni chosen for five years from those who have held their degrees for five or more years, holds ultimate veto power over all the Corporation's decisions. Seven times a year the Overseers meet in solemn conclave to approve (almost as a matter of course) the actions of the President and Fellows.

Much of the job of supervising the University has been delegated to the so-called Visiting Committees. Each Committee, composed of Overseers and other alumni with a special interest in one field of study, has jurisdiction over one department of the University. In actual practice their power is purely advisory, for they have no real control over policy, and the position is generally viewed solely an an honorary one.

Least powerful of all groups in determining financial policy and the process of liring and firing is the Faculty. Most Presidents have consulted the Faculty before making major changes in educational policy, but their advice is by no means binding on his decision. Meetings of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are often attended by a mere handful of the 330 members. For several years Faculty meetings were abolished in favor of an elected Faculty Council, but that institution was scrapped two years ago.

At the present time, an "insured Querum" method is used, on the theory that it will guarantee the presence of at least 65 men at each meeting. In recent years, the routine meetings have drawn few men over this absolute minimum. Only when there are special topics to be discussed, such as the Walsh-Sweezy tenure case, or the sweeping curricular changes due to wartime conditions, is there anything like a full attendance.

In some cases the Faculty will establish Committees to study and report on some particular topic. In the past these subjects of investigation have included Tenure, Tutorial, Educational Standards, and the like. Such committees have recently been extraordinarily active, for the impact of war on Harvard has made the problems in every field immensely more complex.

These special Committees have always made a practice of consulting intimately with Student Council Committees established to deal with parallel problems. Although their formal authority ranks lowest in the official hierarchy, Student Council members have always been accorded full hearings, and their recommendations are often considered in full Faculty meetings. Many of the recent changes in Harvard's makeup have been conceived by the Council, studied by a Faculty Committee, voted by the Faculty, inaugurated by the Corporation, and then given the final stamp of approval by the omnipotent Board of Overseers.