Heimert Will Chair Committee to View Government Nexus

Dean Rosovsky said yesterday he has appointed Alan E. Heimert 49, master of Eliot House and chairman of the English Department, as chairman of a Faculty committee to look into Harvard's relations with the federal government.

The specific issues the committee will address have not been decided yet and no other Faculty members have been appointed to the committee. Rosovsky said, adding he expects both these matters to be decided in two or three weeks after he meets with Heimert.

A Consequence

Heimert said last night that the committee was a consequence of the Buckley amendment, which he said served as "both the catalyst and specific instance" for a broad examination of the University's relations with the federal government.

"My concern would be that the financial wallop of the federal government makes it impossible to say no to their demands." Heimert said.

Government legislation "may very well be a threat to the internal freedom of universities, "he said, "so it is important to examine what options we have."

Heimert also said that some of the Faculty viewed the student files law as "an instance of government intrusion" and as proof that "educational areas are rapidly being impinged upon" by the government.

He said the files law first raised the issues the committee intends to deal with but that that will not be the sole area of concern.