Plus Ca Change...

Lest we feel we have moved forward, here are excerpts from a series of editorials on the most important issues facing Harvard in 1980.

Campus Dangers

The rape of two women at the Business School brings to light the security problems that students and employers face. The chief security problem seems to be lack of communication...the University should step up its campaign to inform students of its protective services.

Silence on Women

Assimilation does not make women feel at home; it only makes them feel invisible...Plugging more women into what was once an all-male institution and expecting them to conform will only perpetuate those feelings of invisibility. The University should work towards breaking the public silence by giving support and respect to a women's center such as the Forum and to women's groups such as the Women's Clearinghouse...Finally, women need not only recognition, but leadership. Expanding Radcliffe admissions lists will mean little to educated women until the University is willing to increase the number of women at the top.

From the Same Mold

Harvard's faculty consists, for the most part, of white, male, middle-aged scholars with impeccable credentials and outstanding reputations. The tenure system insures it. And that, in itself, is a problem....the system discriminates against young academics; it favors the "big name" over youthful vigor and potential...In essence, junior faculty at Harvard are traveling the academic equivalent of a dead-end street, and that creates a morale problem...First, Harvard should start hiring minorities and women--not just make noises about how it's trying very hard...Second, departments should begin appointing young, promising scholars. Finally--and most importantly for undergraduates--the Faculty must place far greater emphasis on teaching ability in its hiring decisions.

Back to the Streets

One night two and a half years ago, 3500 Harvard students lit candles and marched through the streets of Cambridge, protesting the shameful decision of the men who run this University not to sell their stock in companies operating in South Africa....Since that time, little has happened at Harvard. But in South Africa, conditions have changed--from horrible to even worse....The original demands of the 1978 protesters are the demands that count. Boycotting the ACSR should be the only step in a return to the confrontational public protest of years past...In the embarrassing glare, this university and others might be forced to take the only step that means anything--total and immediate divestiture.