The Week

■ Harvard University was going to offer a course on the control of urban demonstrations but thought better of it in the face of an urban demonstration. Perhaps Yale could offer a counter-demonstration course on the decline of Harvard as a center of learning. Q.E.D.

■ The conservative community was rather miffed when Robert Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, picked California state Assemblyman John Veneman as HEW Under Secretary, because Veneman is a liberal Republican who had tangled with Ronald Reagan on the question of state withholding taxes in California. California Republicans were angry for quite another reason. To them Veneman represents the vital 41st vote in the evenly divided California lower house. He comes from a district that has a 60-40 Democratic to Republican registration, so his replacement might deprive Gov. Reagan of his majority in the Assembly. Plus, California will be redistricting in 1970—after the next census— and it is to the Republicans’ advantage to have as many incumbents running for office then as possible. Insiders say Finch knew his choice of Veneman would be unpopular back home and that’s why he got President Nixon to make the announcement.

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■ Harvard University was going to offer a course on the control of urban demonstrations but thought better of it in the face of an urban demonstration. Perhaps Yale could offer a counter-demonstration course on the decline of Harvard as a center of learning. Q.E.D.

■ The conservative community was rather miffed when Robert Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, picked California state Assemblyman John Veneman as HEW Under Secretary, because Veneman is a liberal Republican who had tangled with Ronald Reagan on the question of state withholding taxes in California. California Republicans were angry for quite another reason. To them Veneman represents the vital 41st vote in the evenly divided California lower house. He comes from a district that has a 60-40 Democratic to Republican registration, so his replacement might deprive Gov. Reagan of his majority in the Assembly. Plus, California will be redistricting in 1970—after the next census— and it is to the Republicans’ advantage to have as many incumbents running for office then as possible. Insiders say Finch knew his choice of Veneman would be unpopular back home and that’s why he got President Nixon to make the announcement.