After Resigning, Weld Looks at Harvard Post

Former U.S. Assistant Attorney General William F. Weld '66, who suddenly resigned last week in apparent disapproval of his boss, Attorney General Edwin Meese III, yesterday said he "wanted to teach" at Harvard beginning this September.

Weld said that he plans to have discussions with top officials at the Kennedy School and Law School next week to discuss the academic opportunities available to the former head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

I want to teach at Harvard--it would be presumptuous of me to say anymore," Weld said last night in a telephone interview from his home in Washington, D.C.

Weld, who graduated from the Law School in 1970 and has never held a position at a university before, said he will meet with Kennedy School Dean Graham T. Allison '62, and Director of the Institute of Politics Richard L. Thornburgh next week, in addition to four Boston law firms, to discuss his future plans.

Law School Dean James Vorenberg '49 also said he expects to hear from Weld sometime next week and hopes he will accept a job there for the fall. Vorenberg said that Weld could assume a research post, but not a professorial post at the Law School.

"Our hope would be to use this as an opportunity to combine Weld's experience in federal law enforcement with our work at the Criminal Law Center. I envision him as a sort of senior research associate," the dean said last night.

Weld, who worked for the Justice Department since 1981 and in private practice for the 10 years before that, says at this point in his career he wanted to explore opportunities in teaching.

"One subject I'd most like to address is the role of morality in politics," Weld said.

Weld has spoken on the subject as a guest lecturer at the Kennedy School several times in the past, most recently at a symposium in 1986, he said. "I shared a platform with Edwin Meese called 'Government and Morality,' if you can believe it," Weld said.

Weld's resignation last Tuesday, along with those of Deputy Attorney General Arnold I. Burns and aides to the two officials, sent shock waves through Washington, D.C. and prompted renewed calls for Meese to step down. Although Weld and Burns refused to explain their actions, reports soonafter the resignations said they were motivated byconcerns that the Justice Department was beinghurt by investigations into alleged wrongdoings byMeese.

In yesterday's interview, Weld again declinedto discuss his feelings toward the attorneygeneral or the circumstances surrounding hisresignation.

Philip B. Heymann, professor of law anddirector of the Center for Criminal Justice, whereWeld may work, said he had discussions with theformer assistant attorney general about histeaching at Harvard long before thewell-publicized resignations.

"He's had an open invitation to come to the LawSchool for over six months. This has nothing to dowith his resignation--that's between him and theDepartment. What Weld can bring to us is eightconsecutive years of rich experience in criminallaw, in the field and at the Justice Department,"Heymann said yesterday.

Vorenberg, who has been an outspoken critic ofMeese's tenure in office, said that Weld'sassociation with the attorney general has noeffect on his suitability for a position at theLaw School.

"For the sort of things we're thinking of, it'smostly irrelevant," Vorenberg said. "The Centerfor Criminal Justice is trying to strengthenfederal law enforcement, and that's not an area ofcontroversy. It only becomes controversial whenyou look at the areas and ways of achieving thisgoal."

Heymann said he has known Weld since 1981, whenthe law professor was the outgoing assistantattorney general for the Carter Administration andWeld was a U.S. attorney in Boston.

"We would be delighted to see William Weld workon any of several projects," said Heymann."Possible topics are the role of the AttorneyGeneral's office, drug enforcement, subjects oninternational law enforcement, and theintersection of national security ineterests andinternational law, such as in the Iran-Contraaffair."

"Weld would be a very free agent at theschool," the professor said. "He'd be in aresearch institution doing essentially whatever hefelt like, such as meeting with students andadvising on different projects at the Center."

Weld said one of the main reasons he wants toreturn to Harvard is to instruct students at theCollege. "Teaching undergraduates is by far themost fun," Weld said. "Undergraduates usually havethe best ideas, and they aren't yet prisoners toone way of looking at the world. The mostirreverent ideas are always the best."

Weld said the last work he had published was"financial and legal articles in periodicals about10 to 15 years ago."

The former Justice Department official saidthat shortly after his visit to Boston, where helived for at least 20 years before moving toWashington, he will decide what career to pursue.

"I will be up in Boston next week looking atvarious possibilities. I will be living in Bostoncirca September 15. The possibilities are myworking full-time at Harvard, full-time at a lawpractice, or something in between."

Weld graduated summa cum laude in Classics fromHarvard in 1966 and graduate cum laude fromHarvard Law School in 1970.

He was in private practice in Boston from 1971to 1981, and the U.S. attorney for Massachusettsfrom 1981 to 1986. In 1986, he became theassistant attorney general for the CriminalDivision until his resignation on March 29, 1988.

Weld has retained a home in Cambridge which hewill return to in September