Maintaining those ties

As this year's graduates prepare to evacuate Cambridge, Harvard offices with full-time employees and committees composed of classmates is already aiming to track graduates for the purposes of fundraising and socializing.

Headquarters for Harvard's intricate network is the Harvard Alumni Association, based at Wadsworth House. The operation there encourages each class committee to keep in touch with alumni through at least one yearly newsletter. The committees also try to sponsor at least one class-wide party a year following a big athletic event and a non-athletic event.

These events generally focus on the east coast, where the greatest concentration of alumni reside. But other alumni scattered throughout the country usually receive word of more convenient events through one of the 136 Harvard Clubs in places as near as Boston and as far as Karachi, Pakistan.

The closest tabs on alumni, however, are kept by a records office in Holyoke Center. The office monitors change in addresses and other developments of the more than 220,000 living University alumni.

The dividend Harvard seeks for all of this close contact is donations, and that's the role the Harvard Development Office plays. Although local Harvard Clubs often solicit funds from their members for local student scholarships, the development office blankets alumni with waves of solicitation. The office, as a result, has a symbiotic relationship with the other organizations, like the class committees. Because the development office takes care of the bulk of the fund-raising, the other organizations make clear their main purpose is not fundraising.

So only one of several Harvard groups expressly passes the collection plate. That's why John Ledecky '79, his class's secretary, faults alumni themselves if they feel their only post-graduate contract with Harvard is during fundraising drives. "There are lots of other mechanisms they can take advantage of if they want," he says.

One agency not affiliated with the University also claims to keep in contact with all graduates: the Harvard Coop. Officials there say they frequently track down undergraduates who leave without paying their bills--using a privatecollection agency.