Harvard Corporation Appoints Ten Foreign Nieman Fellows

The Harvard Corporation recently appointed ten foreign journalists to this year's class of Nieman fellows, including newsmen from countries formerly excluded by the Nieman Foundation.

The new class of Nieman Fellows also includes two "visiting Niemans" who will spend less than the standard nine-month duration involved in the Nieman curriculum.

One of them is Donald J. Woods, who escaped from South Africa last year after openly criticizing apartheid policies. Woods will be in residence at Leverett House, James C. Thomson, curator of the Nieman Foundation, said yesterday.

Activity

Woods is currently traveling and lecturing in this country but he will become more active at Harvard in the spring. "We made him a visiting Nieman so he could have freedom to travel and spread his ideas without being tied to the Nieman curriculum," Thomson said.

A new project this year will involve collaboration between the Nieman Foundation and the Kennedy School Institute of Politics. "This has been in the works for over a year, but it is still very unclear precisely what the Kennedy School has in mind," Thomson said.

The ten associate Fellows supplement eleven Americans appointed last June.

Individual ad hoc committees of six to eight persons comprised of people familiar with a specific candidate, each nominate one associate.

Associate Nieman Fellows are funded by sources outside the University because the Nieman endowment is restricted to citizens of this country.

Funding may be obtained by the associates themselves, but in several cases monies are channeled through the Foundation from private sources such as the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. In this way, Niemans who are unable to acquire their own funding can be supported.

The cost of a Nieman Fellowship is about $15,000 plus travel expenses, Thomson said.

The Niemans from abroad are: Graeme H. Beaton from Australia; Khen V. Chin from Malaysia; Tomas O. Dillen from Sweden; Dominique Ferry from France; Michael H.C. McDowell from Northern Ireland; Michael McIvor from Ontario; John S. Mojapelo from South Africa; Sabam P. Siagian of Indonesia; Donald J. Woods from South Africa; and Royston J.A. Wright from Sierra Leone.