Governance: The men who rule Harvard cast their successors from the same mold

Having once again received my ballots for electing alumni to the Board of Overseers and AHA Directors, I am moved to write some reflections on this year's slate of candidates.

After a refreshing attempt in the past few years to diversify the membership by selecting a few outstanding women and men from professional pursuits other than law and business, this year's list is once again dominated by big businessmen and lawyers. Among the 21 candidates for both AHA and the Board of Overseers, 1 note only one woman--and she is a lawyer one physician and one journalist, Conspicuous in their absence, this year as also in the past, are alumni pursuing careers in the arts--the theatre, music, architecture, painting--despite the avowed objectives of the Board of Overseers and its standing committees, especially its Visiting Committees.

As I review the lists of candidates, I have been asked to vote for since my graduation from Harvard in 1967, I cannot escape the impression of a self-perpetuating oligarchy of middle-aged persons, excessively burdened by a multitude of public offices, but always within a limited sphere of issues. Almost always they sit a Governing-Board-level and therefore for removed from the arena where the action is and where the ferment for change in our society manifests itself with a sense of urgency that seldom filters up till it erupts in bitter explosions.

Even as I level these critical remarks against the class of candidates nominated, I am not doubting the personal sincerity and earnestness of any. I am, however, profoundly concerned by the inevitable superficiality of their participation, indeed of their thoughtfulness, for the benefit of Harvard's future, when they already occupy 10 or more equally engrossing positions. Moreover, I also fear that by virtue of the distance in time from their student experiences, they are less eligible to fashion the policies that will shape Harvard University in the 1980s and 1990s.

Many of us in the last decade have been disabused of the conviction that equates age with wisdom and experience with knowledge. As we look to the future of our great educational and scholarly institutions, we seek more than a reaffirmation of fundamental moral and societal values; we search for innovation in coming to grips with the dramatic transformations of post-industrial social relationships. And I, for one, am skeptical that the class of candidates being nominated have it within their scope of vision, intellectual or emotional, to lead our children through the formidable crises that will continue to divide our society.

I should like to see two innovations introduced: first, includsion of five or six outstanding young men and women from the graduating classes of the entire university no more than five years after their graduation. Special attention should be given to those whose fields of endeavor are the arts, philosophy and the life sciences. Second, during the term of office of all Directors of the AHA and members of the Board of Overseers, these elected representatives of Harvard Alumni in their respective roles should annually publish a report of their activities for the University on our--the alumni's--behalf, as our chosen representatives, to manifest our continued interest in and concern for our University. This is at least one way for meeting what I believe is their accountability to the out constituency who put them in those responsible positions.

Edna Homa Hunt is a graduate of the Business School class of '67 and a management consultant in Cambridge.