The Spotlight's On Harvard As 350th Commences

You can always tell a Harvard story when it appears in the media. They're the ones about the famed "Harvard mystique," the envied "Harvard old-boy network" and the "much-imitated Core Curriculum." But as the stories longingly leer at Harvard's financial prowess, or snidely sneer at its fall from the top of the academic mountain, you can't always tell much from them.

In 1936, The New York Times snagged a Pulitzer Prize for its exhaustive coverage of Harvard's 300th birthday celebration. Now, 50 years later, as more than 900 journalists descend upon Cambridge to report on Harvard's 350th anniversary, three major national newsmagazines have already chipped in with lengthy cover stories prompted by the event. But don't count on any walking off with journalism's top prize this time around.

That's not to say that the coverage has been or will be bad, or not comprehensive. Boston's WNEV-TV, Channel 7, for instance, is providing extensive pool coverage of the three convocations as well as several symposia, and will air a one-hour special on Harvard Saturday night. The station will also air today's speech by Prince Charles live, and air special reports throughout the celebration.

Diminished media coverage of the festivities, overall, though, is largely the result of the University's decision to downplay the "real world" significance of the event. The 300th was billed as an international gathering of the best and brightest, while the 350th has been dubbed a mere "family affair." But the media can only blame itself for largely superficial coverage of the general state of Harvard as it prepares to enter the 21st century.

Harvard is, of course, an ingrained part of American lore and legend. The phrase "Harvard man," for instance, has connotations that a century could not erase. But what would the average guy in Middle America gather about the place from a perusal of the coverage of Harvard at its 350th birthday in the print media? And why does the media think he would even care to read the stuff?

"After 350 years, Harvard certainly qualifies as a national institution," says Time magazine senior editor, Christopher Porterfield. "From an educational standpoint, what happens at Harvardis extremely influential in the rest of thecountry."

The September 8 issue of the magazine containsportrait of a chubby-faced and baggy-eyedUniversity President Derek C. Bok amidst enduringsymbols of academia and veritas on the cover, anda trio of Harvard stories inside. The editorialcontent was handled by Porterfield, Time'seducation editor, and, not surprisingly, itfocuses on the educational side of Harvard life.

But Time's emphasis on the modern Harvardeducation and the school's academic reputationdistorts its overall portrayal of Harvard, circa1986. Mention of the divestment controversy, forinstance, does not pop up until several thousandwords into the articles, towards the end of aprofile of Bok sympathetic enough to make up forthe unflattering portrait of the patricianpresident on the cover.

As extensive as Time's coverage is--it alsoincludes a lengthy history of the College from itsinception to Bok's installation--it will not printdetailed reports on 350th festivities.

"It's hard to get a handle on [thecelebration]," says Porterfield. Time will coveronly those events, he says, "with an importancebeyond the occasion." The magazine will relegatethe rest of its coverage to the gossipy Peoplepage.

Time's chief rival in the national news-weeklygame, Newsweek, gave Harvard and its birthday acomparative pittance of coverage. A teaser at thetop of its cover asks, "Harvard at 350: Why theMystique?" Inside, playwright and author MarkO'Donnell '76, attempts in an idiosyncratic essayto answer that question, as only a former Lampoonpresident can. But the editors deemed a story on"TV's Fun Couple," Bruce Willis and CybillShepherd of "Moonlighting," more worthy of a coverstory.

"It's a big anniversary for Harvard, but notfor the rest of the nation," says Newsweek BostonBureau Chief Mark Starr. "People in Boston tend tolose their perspective, and we didn't find anycompelling reason to do [a big story]."

"Everyone has some fascination with Harvard,but [the 350th] is not the most important story tomost of our readers," he adds. "A lot of peopledecided to do a big story on it, but we thought wewould take an offbeat approach...irreverentwithout lacking respect."

The third member of the national news-weeklytroika, U.S. News and World Report, also gave bigplay to Harvard. In the most balanced andcomprehensive coverage of the University at its350th birthday, the magazine attempts to take itsreaders "Behind the Harvard Mystique."

The 10-page spread examines the pedagogic andintellectual controversies at the College andgraduate schools; the evolving composition of theundergraduate student body; divestiture; theold-boy network; and fundraising. It also offersprofiles of eight faculty superstars.

"The feeling here was that the University is amajor force in American society, and that this wasa milestone in its history," says Alvin P. Sanoff,a U.S. News senior editor. The magazine also plansto cover the birthday bash itself, though"probably more as a Harvard celebration story thanas a big public policy story--barring somethingsignificant," Sanoff says.

By far the most reflective piece inspired bythe 350th appeared in the pages of The NewRepublic. In the magazine's September 8 issue,Professor of History Charles S. Maier '60 toucheson a host of current Harvard affairs, and writesthat "at 350, the prevailing attitude amongstudents and faculty seems to be one of cautiousincrementalism and earnest moralism: a whiggishequipoise. This is certainly Derek Bok'sposture..."

Cautious incrementalism, though, has notcharacterized coverage of Harvard and its 350th inthe nation's major daily newspapers. Leading thepack is, not surprisingly, The Boston Globe.

The Globe published a 72-page magazine sectionon "Harvard at 350" last Sunday and will have 12reporters and eight photographers covering theevent itself. The magazine provides the onlycoverage in the media of the ups and (mostly)downs of town-gown relations, and the onlyextensive discussion of women at Harvard. The restof the special supplement, however, provides onlya conventional view of the institution and theevent.

Several articles have appeared in The Globeleading up to the Celebration, most notably anexhaustive duo by Gil Fuchsberg '85 providing aclose look at the current state of Harvardfinances and its marketing of the 350th. The Globewill cover the three convocations and 16 of themore provocative and potentially newsworthysymposia, says Anne Weyman, who is coordinatingthe paper's 350th coverage.

The New York Times prides itself as thenation's paper of record, and editors in its West43rd Street offices consider goings-on at theCollege on the Charles among the news that's fitto print. A rhapsodic cover piece on Harvard at350, for instance, graced the The Times's SundayMagazine earlier this summer. However, The Timesdoes not plan the type of comprehensive coverageof the 350th which garnered it a Pulitzer 50 yearsago.

"It's hard to judge [the celebration] as a newsevent, and an anniversary story per se doesn'texcite us," says Times Deputy National EditorDaniel Lewis. "[The 350th] is hard to define as anews event that requires a full-court press."

The Washington Post, though, did not have muchtrouble defining the event. The Post will run its350th stories in the paper's "Style" pages. "It'sa ceremonial event, and that's where we coverceremonial events," says Mary Hadar, the Post'sstyle editor.

Still, The Times will run a daily round-upstory on happenings at the 350th, and publishgeneral features on the University by BostonBureau Chief Fox Butterfield '61.

Lewis says the paper "is tending to underplaythe thing" because of the prominent magazinearticle, and the University's decision to portraythe 350th--unlike the 300th--as an event withoutgreat reverberations beyond Harvard Yard. "Ourproblem is figuring out how we can report thisseriously without covering every nickle and dime,"he says.

Perhaps the most prescient thinking behinddecisions to cover or not to cover went on insidethe editorial offices of the Wall Street Journal.After publishing a caustic preview of the 350th inmid-August, the paper has no plans, barring anyunforeseen events newsworthy in and of themselves,to cover 350th festivities. "Our philosophy is togive our readers what they need to know," says thepaper's Boston bureau head Larry Ingrassia, "notmore than they need to know."CrimsonPeter H. SchwartzThe newsstand at Out of Town News is thebest indicator of what America thinks aboutHarvard's 350th.