College 350th Gets $5000 Gift

The committee organizing the undergraduate 350th celebration received a grant of $5000 from BayBanks Trust Wednesday to help fund the three-day gala weekend in October.

The money will go primarily towards paying for the 350th dinner Friday evening, organizers of the undergraduate extravaganza said.

Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun '29 will speak to about 450 invited guests about his days as an undergraduate when he rowed crew and sang for the Harvard Glee Club. In addition, President Derek C. Bok and the master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge--which John Harvard attended--will address the dinner guests, said Cristina V. Coletta '87, co-chairman of the celebration.

About 400 guests will be invited to the 350th dinner in Memorial Hall, including about 150 undergraduates. Among the non-undergraduates guests will be resident tutors, masters, and masters emeriti.

"This is the first actual check we've gotten," said Coletta of the BayBanks $5000 contribution. Coletta said that Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III, also one of the event's chairmen, sought this gift last summer and that other corporations had also promised money.

While Coletta said that the budget for the entire four-day celebration was $80,000 she would not comment on how much the University contributed. "We couldn't have done it without private sponsorship because the College itself has allotted very limited funds," said Coletta.

"The more gifts we get, the more lavish a party we will be able to give for the undergraduates," said Coletta. If the committee is able to raise enough money, they may add an outdoor dance on Thursday to the weekend's schedule.

Coletta said that since there was "no huge event" on Thursday, a dance "would be a nice way to open the weekend." The undergraduate celebration was planned because only about a quarter of the College will be attending the University gala in September.

The celebration includes a symposium on the state of higher education at which Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, a 1971 Law School alumnus, will speak and a ball to which the entire undergraduate population will be invited.