Rosovsky Takes Over as Dean of the Faculty

Henry Rosovsky will begin his first full year as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences this Fall, and observers of University affairs will be watching to see if his stances on issues differ at all from those of President Bok.

Bok last Spring appointed Rosovsky to Harvard's Number 2 administrative position, filling the vacancy opened when John T. Dunlop, former dean of the Faculty, left in January to direct Richard Nixon's Cost of Living Council.

Rosovsky, a former professor of Economics, officially took office July 1. As dean of the Faculty, he is responsible for what is by far the largest and most important of Harvard's eight faculties.

Rosovsky last Spring described the duties of the deanship as being overall policy planning rather than minor administrative details. "The guts of this job is overseeing the long-term direction of the trinity--the Faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students," he said.

This broad conception of the deanship, combined with the many problems that Rosovsky has inherited--graduate student financial aid, the restructuring of the Afro-American Studies Department, a possible debate over ROTC--indicates that he will have both the desire and the need to make important decisions.

And although both he and Bok stressed at the time of his appointment that they saw eye-to-eye on most issues, the possibility exists that they will disagree in the future. Administration-watchers wonder how those disagreements will be settled.

It was an open secret during the past two years that tension was building between Dunlop and members of the Bok Administration--tension made the more difficult because Dunlop and Bok himself were old personal friends.

Sources spoke of a widening chasm splitting the Yard between University Hall--Dunlop's bailiwick--and Massachusetts Hall--where Bok's fleet of young vice presidents and special assistants is based.

Whether that chasm has now been closed for good is an open question, the answer to which may become apparent in the next few months.

At a May press conference announcing his appointment, Rosovsky said one of his goals was to "de-politicize" the Faculty. "We should debate issues solely on their merits without reflecting the political splits of the sixties," he said.

"There is obviously a political content to many questions that the Faculty considers, but that should be secondary," he said. "We should go back to the period when issues were considered on their academic merits."

In the tumultuous sixties, the Faculty debated and voted in such issues as ROTC and whether to endorse moratoria against the Indo-China War. It split into loosely defined liberal and conservative caucuses which tended to vote in blocs on the various issues.

Centrist

High level sources said last Spring that part of the reason Rosovsky was picked for the deanship was because he was acceptable to both wings of Faculty opinion, which, despite the past few years of relative quiet, still maintain some cohesion.

If the ROTC issue once again introduced into Faculty debate, there is a strong likelihood that the caucuses would form once again, thwarting Rosovsky's goal of de-politicization and potentially straining his relationship with President Bok.

How Harvard's new number 2 reacts could be a very interesting question in the months ahead.