Harvard's International Pulpit

RWAMAGANA,Rwanda--The allegedly corrupt past of former Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad's, a current IOP fellow and Kennedy school alum, reminded me of another piece of modern Harvard lore. The legend goes like this: There was once a Guatemalan military officer studying at the Kennedy school who received not one but two documents on Commencement Day--his diploma and a subpoena to answer to charges of human rights violations.

This may or may not be a true story, but what is an undisputed fact is that Harvard's worldwide reputation and unmatched prestige draw all kinds of people seeking either degrees or speaking engagements.

While many remember with fondness the special convocation for Nelson Mandela or the charm of King Abdullah of Jordan, a few guests, like Mahuad, could be accused of using the University's name for unsavory ends. For example, this past spring, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, touted as a progressive woman leader, gave a public address at the Institute of Politics. While many in the audience gushed at how wonderful it was to see a female head of government from South Asia, no one mentioned another Bangladeshi proponent of women's rights, Kalpana Chakma.

Chakma was allegedly abducted by government forces in 1996 and has never been seen since. Prime Minister Hasina has to this day refused to release the report of the investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, a bill that would create a national human rights commission had been languishing in Sheikh Hasina's cabinet for over a year while she rushed through a draconian "national security" law.

In January, the Kennedy School's Center for International Development hosted Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, who leads of one of the rebel factions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Widely derided in Congo as a puppet of foreign powers that have invaded the country to plunder its diamond wealth, Wamba dia Wamba's own subordinates have admitted that his soldiers have been involved in at least one very bloody massacre of civilians.

For better or worse, the Harvard name can give international figures a boost back home. Hasina's visit was covered in the Bangladeshi press, which made sure to add her to the list of all the other prominent personalities who have in the past been invited to speak at the Institute of Politics (IOP). The website of Wamba dia Wamba's rebel group (designed by a Kenyan refugee working at gunpoint) prominently announced his Kennedy school talk, as well as other university engagements.

The list goes on and on. Besides Mahuad, other internationally infamous Harvard alums include former kleptocrats such as Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, as well as strongmen like one-time IOP fellow and Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew. Bhutto, widely viewed in Pakistan as hopelessly corrupt, found an enthusiastic audience at the IOP after losing power.

Yasushi Akashi, the former U.N. diplomat in charge of the disastrous Bosnia peacekeeping mission, spoke to the U.S.-Japan seminar at Harvard just a few years after refusing to stop a Bosnian Serb attack on a town called Srebrenica, resulting in the worst massacre in Europe since World War II.

None of this is to say that controversial or unpopular figures should never be invited to Harvard. In fact, there should be even more, but they should face questions that are tough and fair by audiences that are well-informed. After all, universities are and should be places for the vigorous exchange of ideas, and groups such as the IOP do an invaluable service by making this possible.

Rather, it is the responsibility of all of us--students, administrators, faculty and journalists--to ensure that murderers and thieves do not walk away from this university followed by the echoes of ignorant applause.

The problem is when the mutually reinforcing prestige of world leaders and the world's leading university converge, amidst a dearth of good background information. Not only do these leaders come home triumphantly smelling of ivy, but starstruck Harvard students flattered by receiving such pilgrimages are duped as well.

During my first-year, I remember reading a proud e-mail written by a fellow member of the class of 2001 about how wonderful he found his first week at Harvard. He recalled dining with a Nobel laureate and hearing an address by Grigoriy Yavlinsky. The latter he described (in the finest parenthetical name-dropping style) as the future president of Russia. Yavlinsky, a liberal politician and frequent Harvard visitor, is a laughingstock in Russia whose share of the presidential vote has never reached the double-digits.

Fortunately, many of the questionable personalities who come to (or come from) Harvard have dirt but not blood on their hands. A few, like Yavlinsky, are no more than sorry jokes back home. But what is truly frightening is how this cavalcade of distinguished people, both admirable and scurrilous, affects the egos of thousands of students who graduate from this institution.

There is an old joke that the World Bank and IMF recruit third-rate students from first-rate universities, but that's only half the story. The truth is that even very intelligent and well-meaning people can be taught not to think critically, and visits to Harvard by the Mahuads, Sheikh Hasinas, and Wambia dia Wambas of the world sometimes contribute to this.

After four years of being constantly reminded that they have studied under the best teachers and have had the opportunity to interact with the most important leaders of their generation, the reality is that many Harvard undergraduates do go on to fill the corridors and climb the ladders of power. And who knows, one day a few of them may even be invited to speak to students at the world's most prestigious university.

Darryl Li '01 is a social studies concentrator in Quincy House. He is founder and executive director of the Harvard International Monitoring and Action Group.