Reporter's Notebook

"The problem is not the surface abrasiveness. The problem is that down deep he is a totalitarian personality."

--Former Boston University Professor Howard Zinn, describing B.U. President and gubernatorial candidate John R. Silber.

"My approach is certainly more daring. I want to find out whether it is possible to be elected while retaining some cognitive element in a campaign."

--Silber, speaking Wednesday during a brief visit to the Kennedy School of Government.

Cocktail Hour Horrors--Women faculty in Harvard's science departments say they often feel like an embattled minority. Jill Bonner, a former Bunting Institute fellow, recalls one encounter with Harvard's predominantly male science departments: "They were invited over to the Bunting Institute for cocktails, and the Harvard male faculty just stood there, hardly speaking a word to the Bunting fellows, each a distinguished scholar in her own right...They're very happy slapping each other on the backs at local clubs, but put them with women and they shut up like clams."

"The real problem is that women are a minority, and particularly at Harvard. The first things that your colleagues see is you're different. It really depends on the faculty member."

--Associate Professor of Biology Connie Holm.

"Obviously there's something operating to cause somehow a larger fraction of women than men to find a level and stay there, lower down the ladder...We're all tearing out our hair to figure out what it is."

--Physics Department Chair Bertrand I. Halperin.

Not funny, as usual--Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III was not especially amused when he learned the planned launching of a new right-wing student magazine might be tied to a Harvard Lampoon prank. But Epps was used to the antics by that semi-secret social society--which allegedly publishes a humor magazine--and responded "It was irresponsible, but not surprising...We are not amused."

"It's a matter of learning enough and sizing up the situation well enough to know how to be constructive and creative and effective."

--Linda S. Wilson, describing her early months as Radcliffe's president.

"She has to play ball with the boys...she's within a certain structure, and she has to be careful where she throws her weight around."

--Anne E. Blais '91, co-president of the Radcliffe Union of Students, describing what Wilson must do to have an impact at the University.

Still waiting--No word yet on whether Czechoslovakian playwright-turned-president will speak at Harvard's Commencement this June. Harvard extended the formal invitation a few weeks ago, but has not yet gotten a reply. Now, it looks like they may have to wait quite a while. According to a U.S. State Department spokesperson contacted two days ago, Havel's office has been inundated with speaking offers--some 45 for May and June alone. Meanwhile, the spokesperson said, Havel's administration has not been too quick to respond to any of them. "They've been planning them 24 hours in advance," the State Department source quipped. Guess that's what happens when people let intellectuals have authority.