Harvard Opts Out of Distance Learning Talks

Harvard will not participate in a series of high-level discussions between Yale, Princeton and Stanford universities to create a distance learning colloquium directed at alumni, administrative sources at two schools confirmed last night.

One administrative source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance would allow Princeton, Yale and Stanford graduates access to resources at each university.

"Yale alumni would be able to take courses from Princeton," the source said. "Not for credit. None of the courses would be for credit. It's unclear if they would even be courses."

"It could be something like a discussion group on a topic...I don't think it would necessarily be a semester-long course," the source said. "Topics were not discussed--it was more of a general structure."

Harvard has chosen, for the moment, not to take part in talks about the alliance.

"The matter is, I believe, still confidential, but I can tell you that while the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has decided not to join the alliance formally at this time, informal discussion about possible future participation will, I'm sure, continue," Dean Jeremy R. Knowles wrote in an e-mail message.

Knowles declined to comment further. Both he and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 would not provide details about why Harvard declined to participate in the discussions.

But Lewis said the University needs to consider the implications of offering distance learning programs.

"I am not against these ideas--if we approach them analytically in terms of the deployment of our resources," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message. "I haven't heard anyone say lately that the undergraduate college which is our core business has a surplus of faculty time unused by our undergraduates, so I am very cautious about exciting ideas for other ways our faculty could be spending their time."

He said any new business proposal for Harvard--"especially under terms that Harvard will not be able to control by itself"--requires scrutiny and extensive faculty consideration.

"I am glad that [President Neil L. Rudenstine] has not leapfrogged that sort of careful deliberation by the faculty by binding Harvard to any consortial arrangement without due consideration," he wrote.

The idea for a distance learning consortium stems from a Yale Corporation visit to Stanford's campus this past fall, when Yale University President Richard C. Levin talked to Stanford University President Gerhard Casper, the source said.

The Yale Corporation, like the Harvard Corporation, is the highest governing board of its university.

The source said that about a week ago, "Harvard was on the fence."

According to the source, 15 to 20 faculty members and administrators from Yale met to discuss the initiative last week at the request of that university's provost, Alison F. Richard.

"They were unsure as to whether Harvard was in or out," the source said.

But with or without Harvard, the source said he expected the alliance could be implemented as early as July 1 of this year, but possibly in the fall.

Yale University is already planning to offer some courses to alumni over the Internet, according to the Yale Daily News.

Yale officials had no comment on the ongoing discussions about the proposed alliance.

Officials from Princeton and Stanford Universities did not return calls for comment yesterday afternoon and evening.