Playing to Win

When Harvard goes to Washington, it goes there to win. And on the highly sensitive issue of recombinant DNA research, it certainly won the first round, as the bill regulating DNA research introduced in the House on Tuesday shows.

But Harvard did not win without a considerable amount of organization, planning and aggressiveness. The University's lobbying efforts on the DNA issue have led administrators to take frequent trips to Washington, hire a registered lobbyist, and even draft a bill mandating federal control over DNA research and safety guidelines.

In addition, Harvard, with other universities, formed a loosely-organized "information and communications" group known as "Friends of DNA" that still sends out memos on the state of DNA legislation.

Harvard and several other universities with a vested interest in DNA research support guidelines with strong federal controls--contained in the bill's so-called "pre-emption clause." Environmental groups and many congressmen and scientists favor greater control by local governments.

The bill now before the House includes a federal pre-emption clause. Indeed, one Congressional aide this week called it "the Harvard bill in dressed-up form;" both sides agree that the current bill is very similar to the one Harvard's lobbyists drafted.

The University's intensive lobbying on the pre-emption issue appears to reflect some anxiety over the city of Cambridge's efforts to ban recombinant DNA research in the fall of 1976. Harvard officials, however, have declined to comment on that score.

Whatever Harvard's motives, its lobbying style has apparently irritated many congressional aides. One aide described lobbying as "extraordinarily aggressive."

But Harvard's fight is hardly over. The Washington rumor-mills indicate that a new bill, soon to be introduced to the Senate by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), will not contain a federal preemption clause. And so it looks like Harvard's lobbying experts will have to gear up for even more aggressive efforts.