$5 Million Grant Readies Press, Politics Media Center

At a press conference attended by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), Kennedy School Dean Graham Allison yesterday formally announced a gift of $5 million which will endow a Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy.

"This type of center exists nowhere in the world," Allison said. He said that the gift, first disclosed by officials last week, culminates several years of planning.

Kennedy said the center, by reviewing the relationship between politicians and the press, "will provide a better understanding of how they interrelate." He explained that a natural, healthy and constructive tension exists between the politicians and the press.

The gift from San Francisco real estate magnate Walter H. Shorenstein and his wife, Phyllis J. Shorenstein, is dedicated to the memory of their daughter, Joan Shorenstein Barone, who attended The School of Divinity and died at age 39. The center will be named in her honor.

Barone served as a producer of the CBS Evening News and of Face the Nation, the television news show. Her father called the center "a living memorial to the things she stood for."

The center will examine the "intersection" of government and the press and the impact these two forces have on each other, Allison said.

He said the center will be formally dedicted in the spring and courses will begin next fall. Allison said the center will be open to all students in the University, and emphasized its value to those at the Kennedy School and at the College.

Not settled yet is the question of who will be the first Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment. The chair, which will be linked to the new center, was endowed by CBS more than a year ago but has yet to be filled, despite a year long search.

Allison said that the Kennedy School faculty is actively considering people now and that they should choose the professor in several months