Who's Who Among Campus Celebrities

Nothing is quite as ephemeral as the popularity of visiting campus celebrities. This year, as student groups draw up their schedules of guest speakers, it is clear that anyone who rides the edges of the main political, social and cultural roads is far more likely to get an invitation than those who straddle the center line. The most desirable speaker, if only he were available, insists one Berkeley student leader, would be Ho Chi Minh. Almost as good, a Harvard student sighs sadly, would have been an other Communist, the newly deceased "Che" Guevara.

More realistically, campus groups are trying to land U.S. political figures--but often find them inaccessible too. California's Governor Ronald Reagan and New York City's Mayor John Lindsay seem to be getting, and turning down, more invitations than any other Republicans, although former Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater and Gadfly William F. Buckley Jr. are still much in demand. With the possible exception of Senators Wayne Morse and J. William Fulbright--both harsh critics of U.S. policy in Viet Nam--no Democrats are hot on the campus circuit.

Despite a declining fervor for the civil rights movement, students are still eager to hear from two Negro militants: Stokely Carmichael and Dick Gregory. When they seek a religious figure, campus organizations think first of two unconventional Episcopal clergymen: the Rev. Malcolm (Are You Running with Me, Jesus?) Boyd and Bishop James A. Pike. Among academics, Economist John Kenneth Galbraith this year seems to be slightly more in vogue than Communications Theorist Marshall McLuhan.

Although their elders may be bored by it, students are not yet tired of the anti--Warren Commission crusade of Attorney Mark Lane. The psychedelic sound of musical groups such as the Jefferson Airplane is welcome, although the cost (up to $8,000 an appearance) is far from popular. Sitarist Ravi Shankar is both a mystical and musical attraction, while LSD Guru Timothy Leary has slipped noticeably. Surprisingly enough, one of the most ubiquitous campus speakers among show business personalities is television's square old M.C., Art Linkletter, who has hit 20 campuses in the past two years, drew 3,500 University of Minnesota students to a talk on "The Pill and the Bomb" last February, and starts a tour of the Ivy League circuit this week.

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