COVER ARTICLE In the Hudson River valley, Peter Stern '50 melds technology and nature in a preeminent sculpture park by Christopher Reed Journalism's market-driven slide from reporting to assertion, and some principles for sustaining factual newsgathering byBill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel Brief life of the Cup donor: 1879-1945 by Craig Lambert An apathetic electorate, a public-sector "performance gap," and confusion between political means and ends challenge the future of governance by the people. A Harvard Magazine roundtable on the symptoms and some possible solutions The 348th Commencement is Radcliffe College's last, plus a protest over wages, the shaping of the Radcliffe Institute, community policing, troubled teaching hospitals, assessing academic advising, renovating Widener Library, University people, top teachers, a longing good-bye from "The Undergraduate," ROTC debated anew, a century of international track and field, and a sports roundup   Radcliffe: A New Incarnation 1998 addresses: Greenspan honor PBK Rudenstine Also, check out our current Classifieds, or browse our archivesof issues going back to May-June 1996