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Andrew HeiskellAndrew Heiskell
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Session:         Page of 824

originally composed entirely of the local ministers in Boston--oversees were all ministers--you couldn't quite do that. And also, the structure of Harvard is embodied in the laws of the state of Massachusetts, and you can't change anything at Harvard without going to the legislature. And if you ever went to the legislature, would they have fun with Harvard! [laughter] There are a lot of things they could think of changing! So the last thing anybody ever would do is to change any legal aspect of the structure of Harvard for fear of that.

Well, I did serve to create a reasonable amount of order in the overseer body. And here I was, in my last year, my sixth year, when Derek drew me aside one day and said: “You know, John Blum”--who was Professor of History at Yale and who was a member of the Corporation--”is retiring, and I would like you to serve on the Corporation. But of course, I realize that it causes considerable problems to you, because it is so demanding in terms of time.”

Q:

You still had a year left as chairman of Time?

Heiskell:

Yes, well--yes. It was in '79, and I had a year left. And I thought about it quite a bit, because the Corporation meets every two weeks. It's a body of the president, the treasurer, and five fellows. And it is really the management council of the university.

Q:

You mean, like an executive committee at a corporation or a management committee?





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