Word: allison
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Soon after Graham T. Allison Jr. '62, dean of the K-School, said he did not support the renaming of the library, the only undergraduate on the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) resigned from her position, charging that the ACSR did not adequately reflect the views of the Harvard community and was "stalling" on the issues...
...point seemed valid to those who could see a similarity between Engelhard and Hitler's characters. Graham T. Allison Jr. '62, dean of the K-School, did not buy the argument, however. Part of his job is to take into account the interests of alumni and donors to the K-School--in this case Engelhard's daughter, Sophie (MPA, '77)--and those of K-School students. He says protesters have shrouded the issue in rhetoric. "It was a triumph of symbolism over substance. It had no impact on anybody who lives in South Africa or who might have been...
Early in February, Thomas C. Schelling, Littauer Professor of Political Economy, recommended, as Allison had previously suggested, setting up an ad hoc committee of students and faculty to study the Engelhard controversy and develop guidelines for accepting gifts and naming facilities. The committee was plagued by internal rifts, with two of its members dropping out, but it did release tentative guidelines on April 11--the same day 300 demonstrators called for the library to be named after Steven Biko, the slain leader of the South African Black Consciousness Movement...
However, the compromise retains the foundation's initial objective, what Allison describes as "the public expression of what was privately expressed--gratitude and public recognition that the library is given in honor of Engelhard. "I have always been happy to make just that," Allison adds. But he worries that the resolution is vulnerable to misinterpretation. Allison cautions the community to remember that the name of the library wasn't dropped since the library had never officially been named after Engelhard...
...what effect has the whole controversy had on the K-School? "I learned that as dean of the school I need to be more sensitive to the feelings and concerns of all the school's constituencies so as to avoid actions of such offense that parties can be harmed," Allison says, adding, "This is not to say all parties will approve of all actions the school will take. This is also not to put my finger into the wind and follow wherever prevailing sentiments...