Palms Out For Henry

Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger '50 hasn't forgotten his academic origins. At least this was the hope of President Bok and several other university presidents when they talked with him in the past few months in an effort to gain his support for struggling Russian studies centers across the country.

Kissinger is concerned that a shortage of Russian scholars may limit cultural interchange between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and harm the two nations' diplomatic relations, Richard E. Pipes, professor of History and former director of the Russian Research Center said this week.

Kissinger in a speech he gave in the fall of 1975 said that foreign studies in the United States should be invigorated.

In the hope that Kissinger would translate his concern into action, President Bok, along with a group of university presidents met with Kissinger last summer, while Congress was considering an amendment to the Higher Education Act, which called for $10 million in aid to international studies institutes.

The Higher Education Act amendment is of high personal import to Bok, and he has spoken to several legislators about the bill, Robin Schmidt, vice-president for government and community affairs, said yesterday.

This amount represents an increase over the funding stipulated in last year's act, which supported a significant chunk of the budget of the Russian Research Center--one of the few centers of its kind in the country.

As a result of the meeting Kissinger said he would write a letter to Congress urging increased federal aid for international studies, President Bok said this week. The amendment passed this fall.

But Kissinger is a man of paradoxes. When Columbia University President William J. McGill met with Kissinger on November 8 in Washington, he declined McGill's offer to work with the joint fundraising drive for the Russian Research Center and Columbia's Russian Institute, the Columbia Spectator reported on November 10.