Harvard Fails To Meet Ford Fund Grant

The University will soon ask the Ford Foundation for more time to raise money.

Harvard will ask an extension of the foundation's two-year time-limit to match Ford's $2.5 million gift for construction of a new International Studies Center.

It is a rare occasion when Harvard, which has the largest endowment of any private university in the nation and annually receives around $30 million in gifts, has to make such a request. "I can't think of a single, specific instance like it, but this is probably not the first time," President Pusey said recently.

Harvard officials do not expect any difficulty in receiving the extension, although technically if the Ford Foundation were to refuse the University would lose the $2.5 million gift. Thus far, a little more than $1.3 million has been raised.

Stock Decline Hurt

A number of factors have been cited by officials to account for the difficulty in raising the matching money. The stock market's decline, they say, has hurt Harvard efforts, and the number of simultaneous drives -- the University's total needs exceed $100 million -- is not making the job any easier.

In addition, there has been some uncertainty about the fund drive for the International Studies Building. It was originally scheduled to be constructed adjacent to Littauer Center, but now all study of international affairs will be conducted in the new John F. Kennedy School of Government, adjacent to the Kennedy Memorial Library.

Ford's original $2.5 million grant was part of a larger, $12.5 million gift for the study of international affairs. Of the total, $5.5 was marked for research activities and has supported work at the Center for International Affairs, the Center for Studies in Education and Development. In addition, money has gone to departments of government, social relations, and economics, and to the University Library System.

The other $4.5 million was allocated for the endowment of nine new Faculty chairs, but these have not all been filled yet