Target Harvard

RALPH NADER, THE FATHER of the consumer revolution and a graduate of the Law School, is coming back to Cambridge to take a look at the Harvard Administration. While we have doubts about the make-up of the operation he has set up to examine the University's power elite, Nader's arrival at Harvard is welcome. His critical eye and sharp tongue can only help raise the level of campus debate on a number of important issues.

Harvard Watch, which will receive guidance from Nader and financing from his Center for the Study of Responsive Law, plans to monitor and publicize the University's decision-making process, as well as the specific policies it decides on. This is not, as some University officials have charged, analogous in any way to Accuracy in Academia. That right-wing organization sought to "infiltrate" college lecture halls and report on professors preaching "subversive" ideas. Nader's group, on the other hand, hopes to encourage--in Nader's words--the free "flow of information" and "healthy discussion" on campus.

In fact, one of Nader's main concerns--one President Derek C. Bok has often expressed unease about--is the growing sponsorship of academic research by government and private industry. He correctly fears the inherent dangers of academics becoming dependent on such sources of money. Nader's purpose in forming Harvard Watch is not to quash the intellectual integrity of Harvard professors. Rather, he is working to help preserve it.

These are also problems, of course, at other campuses around the country. It would be wrong, though, to think that Nader is picking on Harvard by focusing his efforts in Cambridge. The media coverage of the 350th birthday celebration in September demonstrated that events at Harvard command attention in the public eye. If Nader can acomplish some good at Harvard, odds are his efforts will pay off elsewhere, as well.

Unfortunately, Harvard Watch only has a staff of one, an undergraduate who is taking this year off to participate in the project. So we don't expect anytime soon to see the Harvard Corporation topple or the walls of 17 Quincy Street come a tumblin' down. But Ralph Nader's presence can only hasten the coming of the day when major decisions regarding the Harvard community are no longer made solely by seven white males cloistered alone in a room, removed from those most affected by their deliberations. For that reason alone, we welcome him.