Public Relations Expert Hired For Government Affairs Work

The University has hired an expert in public relations and a consultant to the office of external projects to become director of governmental public relations in the office of government and community affairs.

David M. Rosen, one-time State House bureau chief for United Press International and a part-time consultant to Harvard on the troubled Medical Area Total Energy Plant (MATEP), will be responsible for researching and writing about legislation on Capitol Hill which affects the University.

Four More...

Coupled with the recent addition of Nan F. Nixon, director of government relations, the University now has a staff of four full-time employees devoted to Harvard's lobbying efforts in Washington.

Sources close to the office of government and community affairs said yesterday they fear that Rosen's addition might make Harvard's office even more distant from local issues. The office currently includes two people who deal with Cambridge-Harvard relations and one who concentrates on relations with Boston.

Although Rosen's responsibilities have not been fully defined, he said yesterday he will handle issues including tax reform, student aid and health care.

Robin Schmidt, vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday that none of the three directors of government relations in his office was hired specifically as a researcher and writer and that Rosen will help fill the gap created when Michael R. Brewer, director of community relations, stepped down last fall.

But sources close to the office said the job, which Schmitt privately refers to as "the flak," will involve a lot of public relations work with the press.

"A lot of people are unhappy with Harvard's image as the tough guy among the universities who move in Washington circles," one lobbyist who asked not to be identified said last night.

Rosen said he plans to spend a good deal of his time in Washington, D.C., gathering information and talking to people on Capitol Hill and in federal agencies.

"My role is primarily one of providing objective information," he said.

A one-time president of the State House Press Association, Rosen has many years of journalistic experience and has established his own public relations consulting firm.

L. Edward Lashman, director of external projects who has worked with Rosen on issues surrounding the power plant, yesterday called Rosen "the most skillful and able practitioner of his trade."

Lashman said he is "glad to see him working full-time for Harvard," adding that Rosen "writes well, has good judgment and delivers on time."

From 1979 to 1980, Rosen served as director of public information for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he supervised public affairs work and advised the commission's chairman.

A graduate of Boston University, Rosen has taught journalism at Boston University's School of Public Communication and the Graduate School of Education.

A former reporter for the Boston Herald American, Rosen has written a book entitled "Protest Songs in America."DAVID M. ROSEN