Search Committee Earns $550,000 From Outside

Six of the nine members of Harvard's presidential search committee pulled in a total of $550,000 in supplemental income last year for sitting on the boards of 23 major corporations, the Ralph Nader-sponsored group Harvard Watch announced this weekend.

According to public records obtained by Harvard Watch, Robert G. Stone '45, a leading New York corporate figure, and Hanna H. Gray, president of the University of Chicago, headed the list of search committee members who receive extra income through corporate board directorships.

Stone's association with eleven different companies, including the Pittson Coal Company, provided an extra $187,250 to his 1989 salary from Venture Capitalist. Gray, by serving on the boards of four companies, supplemented her income by $143,900.

Harvard Watch said that four other search committee members also earned significant incomes by serving on corporate boards. According to Harvard Watch, Washington transporation lawyer Judith R. Hope earned $76,000 in supplemental income; Acting Dean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky earned $72,800; Gilette Chief Executive Officer Colman M. Mockler '52 earned $40,750; and University of Illinois Professor Charles P. Schlicter earned $20,500.

Jaron Bourke '88, the director of Harvard Watch, said the findings demonstrate the "very narrow range of extra-mural interests" and call into question the committee's priorities.

"None [of the search committee members] worked with an environmental or community development organization such as the Environmental Defense Fund, which is equally presitigious as Corning, Inc." Bourke said. Both Rosovsky and and Stone sit on the Corning board.

"The process from which the president is selected should include voices from the widest spectrum of constituents," Bourke added. "It only makes sense."

The search committee consists of six members of the Harvard Corporation, Harvard's chief governing body, and three members of the Board of Overseers, a 30-member advisory board elected by alumni.