Heimert Vs. The Leviathan

Alan E. Heimert '49, chairman of the Department of English and American Literature and Languages, believes a university should call its own shots.

"Independent universities are a source of independent critical judgement," Heimert says. "One of the reasons historically for academic freedom is so that ideas can develop separately from political judgment."

The catch is that the university is dependent on government aid for its survival. And accepting government funding often means accepting government regulations, provisions, and policies inside the university.

Perhaps it is because Heimert is so vehemently opposed to federal dictation of university affairs--he sees the government as a "leviathan" interfering where it isn't wanted--that Dean Rosovsky has appointed him head of a special faculty committee to investigate the government-university issues raised by the recent student files law.

Although the committee has no other members yet. Heimert says he and his colleagues will discuss whether the government "undermined the operation of the private university" with the "leverage" of the Buckley amendment.

Heimert is quick to add that the purpose of the committee is more specific and more general than this.

Heimert and his committee is to begin by determining how much of the federal money Harvard uses has "strings attached" and will end by deciding "what, if anything, can be done," Heimert says.

Non-compliance "seems impossible," Heimert says. Maybe the only solution, he suggests, is to "educate Congress to the sophistication and fragility of the university itself."