Sunnier Harvard-Cambridge May Be in Sight

Harvard changed presidents in July and got a new vice president for government, community and public affairs this month. Cambridge will be welcoming two new members to its City Council in January.

The transitions on both ends could herald an end to an always-rocky town-gown relationship that was at a low point in recent years, say some observers of the Cambridge political scene.

Brian P. Murphy ’86-’87 and E. Denise Simmons will be joining a council that spent much of the past year struggling with Harvard’s community relations office.

In March, when Harvard invested $5 million in an afterschool program in Boston without making a comparable donation to Cambridge, councillors characterized the action as “arrogant” and “condescending.”

Then this fall, Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio bristled when he felt Cambridge was ignored during President Lawrence H. Summers inauguration speech, telling The Crimson he was “surprised” and “disappointed.”

But a change might be on the way, according to some longtime Cambridge politicians and political pundits.

“I think the new president has a great capacity for positive thinking and I’m sure that he will bring it to bear on town-gown relations,” City Councillor Kathleen L. Born says. “I am enormously optimistic that this relationship can be repaired.”

Change in the Works

When introducing President Clinton to an audience of thousands last week, Summers carefully amended the rhetoric of his inauguration speech, referring to Galluccio as “Harvard’s mayor”—a title that was a big hit at City Hall.

And Alan Stone, Harvard’s new vice president of government, community and public affairs, told a crowd of local officials at his welcoming reception that he will work to increase Harvard’s “transparency” to the community this year.

Meanwhile, while Harvard has been working with Cambridge councillors, Cambridge’s politicians have been espousing a diplomatic approach toward Harvard.

In an extremely unusual move, one of the council’s new members, Brian P. Murphy ’86-’87, made improving the city’s relationship with Harvard one of his campaign issues.

“Most people don’t ever even bring up the whole Harvard issue, that’s just something that comes up over time when the first incident happens. It tends to be entirely reactive,” said Robert S. Winters, a longtime Cambridge political observer and a member of the Cambridge Civic Association.

During his campaign, Murphy—who “came to Cambridge to go to Harvard”— cited undergraduate public service programs such as those of the Phillips Brooks House Association as a way that Harvard is a positive force in the community.

Along with Mayor Galluccio, who has pushed hard for improving the city’s relationship with Harvard, Murphy could build an effective Harvard-friendly coalition on the council, Winters said.

“I’m very optimistic with Brian especially,” Winters says.

Murphy cites Stone’s new place at the helm of community relations as being key to a change in the relationship.

“One of the things that I’m hopeful about is, with Al Stone coming on board, I think there’s sort of a new beginning and a chance to recast the relationship,” Murphy says.

Murphy points to Stone’s mention of the need for “transparency” as a good start to the year.

“I was pleased to hear [Stone] mention the importance of transparency in the relationship,” Murphy says.

On his side, Murphy approaches Harvard carefully, shying away from taking stances on the most contentious University issues that face the city.

He will not commit to a side on whether it is appropriate for Harvard to build a museum in the residential Riverside neighborhood, instead adopting a wait-and-see approach.

“I think the first steps are building the relationships,” Murphy says. “One of the challenges of Cambridge is it’s always difficult to site anything anywhere in the city.”

The Way Things Used To Be

Current Councillor Born—who, after four two-year terms on the council, will be leaving this January—says that the relationship between the city and Harvard degenerated in recent years.

“Somehow in the last three to four years the relationship took a southward turn,” Born says.

Winters rates the current council’s relationship with Harvard as one of the worst in recent memory.

“The one thing I thought they were really just terrible about were these free shots at universities,” Winters says.

Murphy cites the recent “bin Laden” order—a motion sponsored by Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 linking Harvard’s money to Osama bin Laden and calling for University donations after Sept. 11—as an example of an unproductive move in the City Council chamber.

“I’m not sure how constructive it was for the relationship,” Murphy says.

Cambridge-Harvard relations seemed to worsen after the departure of former Mayor Francis H. Duehay ’55, who left in 1999.

Under Duehay’s helm on the City Council, Kennedy School of Government students developed Cambridge’s key programs in affordable housing and environment.

Duehay cites his career as a university administrator as the main reason that he was particularly interested in developing a healthy relationship with the University.

“It’s not easy to deal with universities,” Duehay said. “[City governmnt and universities] are two different entities each with their own cultures.”

But Duehay also says he believes the relationship can be improved if significant effort is put into it.

“There is plenty of work to be done—there are many assets that Harvard has, and many needs that Cambridge has,” Duehay says.

And Murphy has said he is willing to put in this effort.

“I think that the fates of Cambridge and Harvard are linked,” Murphy says. “Neither side is the evil demon out there.”

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.