Letter to the Editor: Free Harvard, Fair Harvard and the Law School

To the Editor:

Having received a ballot for the election of new Overseers for Harvard University, I note that five nominees ("by petition") are running under the banner of "Free Harvard, Fair Harvard." I am disappointed to see that only two of them graduated from Harvard College, and two of them graduated from Harvard Law School. And yet the free tuition they espouse appears to be directed at the College; I can't imagine they are campaigning for free tuition to the Law School.

And yet they act as if the entire endowment is available for tuition at Harvard College. Such a false argument may be more applicable to Princeton, from which two of them graduated and which, I understand, has the highest ratio of endowment funds to undergraduates.

I am also disappointed to see that one of the petition candidates characterizes Harvard University as "a tax-exempt hedge fund." Most of us assume that Harvard's tax-exempt status is related to education. But I suppose, if one is a hammer, everything else looks like a nail.

John Silver graduated from Harvard College in 1967.