Wrong Invitation

THE CLASS of '74's Class Day subcommittee served the seniors and Harvard poorly by extending a Class Day invitation to Elliot L. Richardson '41. Richardson, the seniors' fourth choice for the invitation, was secretary of defense for the first two of six months in 1973 during which the United States mercilessly and criminally bombed Cambodia. Although Richardson resigned last October as attorney general on a supposed matter of principle, he had presumably felt it in accord with his conscience nine months earlier to defend and help perpetuate Nixon's war policies--policies which had led to the terror bombing of Hanoi just before Richardson took over the Pentagon.

The special irony of Richardson's invitation is that his war policies clearly violate the spirit of the lives and work of the senior class's top two choices for Class Day speaker: Russian dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the independent journalist I.F. Stone. Despite what would be sharp disagreements on specific political issues, both Stone and Solzhenitsyn have worked for the preservation of free expression and the steadfast defense of political liberties in their respective homelands. Richardson has shown himself willing to quash democratic movements in Southeast Asia, if need be through the indiscriminate bombing of people's homes, farms, and entire cities.

The Class Day committee's decision not to invite humorist Woody Allen, the senior's third choice, after an invitation to Solzhenitsyn proved impractical and Stone turned down the seniors' offer, may have been wise. Though likely to be much in political agreement with Stone, Allen is not an outspoken representative for the kinds of political concerns central to Stone's or Solzhenitsyn's work. But in going down its list still further and inviting a speaker whose political activities so dramatically contradict the humanitarian aims of the seniors' top two--and probably top three-choices, the committee made a mockery of its supposed role as collective representative of the senior class. The committee acted as though convenience and inviting any celebrity were more important than respecting the prevailing sentiment among graduating seniors.

The Class Day committee should contact Richardson immediately and explain its unfortunate mistake in inviting him as a Class Day speaker without first re-polling the senior class. The committee should then organize a second vote. Even if the poll comes too late for the committee to invite one of the class's clear-cut choices, it would be better for the committee to invite no speaker at all than to overstep its limited legitimate authority and lend further prestige and publicity to Richardson.