The Heirs Apparent?

This is the second of two articles profiling the top contenders for the dean of the Faculty's post.

The race for dean of the Faculty shows no signs of stopping at least as far as President Bok would have people know.

Bok who has almost complete say over the selection of a new dean. Says he has assembled a list of about a half-dozen finalists, but he refuses to say who they are or when he will announce the decision.

The position which is widely considered the second most powerful on the Harvard campus will be vacated in July when Henry Resovsky steps down to resume his teaching and research on Japanese economic history.

Thus far campus gossip about the search has seemed to focus on seven professors on the Faculty though no one except Bok appears to have any inside knowledge about the possible candidates.

They are Adams University Professor Bernard Bailyn. Professor of Biology John E. Dowling '57. Houghton Professor of Chemistry Jeremy R. Knowles. Dean of the Division of Applied Sciences Paul C Martin '51. Burbank Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development Dwight H. Perkins. Dillon Professor of International Affairs and Associate Dean of the Faculty for Undergraduate Education Sidney Verba '53 and Shattuck Professor of Government James Q Wilson.

Profiles follow of four of these professors. Baylin, Dowling, Perkins and Wilson.

BAILYN, Bernard

"I think I'm one of the suspects that is usually rounded up," laughs Adams University Professor Bernard Bailyn when asked if he's thought about becoming dean of the Faculty But Bailyn. One of academia's most prominent American historians is quick to dismiss the idea.

Other professors and administrators on the Faculty haven't though and the reason is simple. Even in a body of scholars as luminous as Harvard's. Bailyn stands out in intellectual eminence.

A professor at Harvard since 1949, Bailyn--or "But," as he is known to friends--has written or edited more than a dozen books documenting the history of the American revolutionary and colonial eras. One book, "The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution," won a Pulitzer Prize: another. "The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson," won a National Book Award.

In more than thirty years of teaching, Bailyn has had a fair amount of influence on a generation of Americanist. As Winthrop Professor of History Stephan A. Thernstrom puts it. "His students beyond all debate dominate the field of American colonial and revolutionary history."

But beyond his teaching and research, Bailyn is said to be influential in the Faculty at large--not by carrying a high profile in committees and on the Faculty floor notes one University Hall official as much as by being a substantial figure of counsel in the back rooms.

One general area in which Bailyn has been openly active and influential is that of the liberal arts curriculum. Which is somewhat ironic given the scholar's reputation of inaccessibility to undergraduates. In the 1960s for example, Bailyn was a prominent member of the so-called Doty Committee that unsuccessfully reviewed the General Education Program.

More recent and more fruitful was Bailyn's crucial role as a conciliatory figure in the development of the Core Curriculum, which he had originally opposed. The current Historical Study requirement and offerings can be attributed largely to Bailyn's intensive work in 1977 and 1978. He teaches one of the offerings himself. Historical Study B-31. "The Revolutionary Transformation of America."

Bailyn's prominent role in shaping the Core is what appears to dominate in the minds of those who mention him as a possible candidate for dean. But even these Faculty members acknowledge that is number of factors could keep Bailyn from the throne.

At age 61 Bailyn a number of colleagues say could well be too old for a job that would probably take six to eight years out of a scholar's career.

Similarly Bailyn is described even by close friends as somewhat of a loner someone who just might not have the inclination to immerse himself totally in the administrative affairs of the Faculty. "He plays his cards very close to his chest," says one official.

Colleagues and administrators finally speculate that Bailyn would be reluctant to give up the life of a scholar and especially the freedom at forded him by his prestigious University Professorship, to take the post. Baylin's now actively engaged in research on population history and the settlement patterns of groups in this country.

One friend Trumbal Professor of American History Donald Fleming sums up that even it Bok were to after the historian the dean's job. "It is not at all clear it he would accept."

DOWLING, John E. '57

As one colleague tells it at least one group of people does not fully appreciate the magnitude of the tasks taken on by John E. Dowling '57 Professor of Biology associate dean of the Faculty and Master of Leverett House.

"People around the country who are microbiologist probably don't know that he carries an administrative burden that in other places would be a full time job," says Bullard professor of Neurobiology Richard L. Sidman, a Medical School colleague of Dowling's. This, Sidman explains, is because even with all his administrative responsibilities, Dowling remains one of the world's experts on the physiology of vision.

His responsibilities are not insignificant and over the last three years, there have been few professors as visible as Dowling in Faculty affairs--especially those that relate directly to under-graduates. And his crisp execution of those duties has led some Faculty members and observers to speculate that the soft-spoken Dowling might have an outside chance at the deanship.

It was the 48-year-old neurobiologist, for example, who chaired the student-faculty committee that drew up the plans for the two-year-old Undergraduate Council. Harvard's first funded student government. And Dowling has had a principal role in administering and setting courses for the Science area of the Core Curriculum.

But at least as far as administrative matters go, Dowling's most important responsibility is as associate dean for the Biological Sciences. In this position, Dowling coordinates the activities of Harvard's two Bio departments--Cellular and Development Biology and Orgasismic and Evolutionary Biology--as well as the Biochemistry Department.

This entails, among other things, Dowling notes, overseeing the unified undergraduate Biology curriculum; serving as liaison between Harvard biologists and central administration; and trying to link up Faculty biologists in programs with bio-medical researchers at other Harvard schools.

"It's not a position of clout," one Biology professor says of the associate deanship. He notes that Dowling has had rely on his diplomacy and ability to persuade to get his way on certain issues, because ultimate power rests with Rosovsky and the separate departments.

Still, this and other officials stress, Dowling has had some degree of influence--especially in his smooth handling of the split-up two years ago of the two Biology departments. He is also credited with being a good spokesman for the interests of Harvard biologists.

For all his administrative skills, however, Dowling is enough of a scientist that, as for other experimenters on campus, taking on the job of dean would probably destroy his career.

A scholar who did hi graduate work at Harvard under Nobel laureate and Higgins Professor of Biology Emeritus George Wald, Dowling runs a lab of some 15 researchers and is particularly interested in examining the retins of the eye as the "model of the brain."

"I'm not ready to give up being a scientist yet." says Dowling. And it is sentiments such as this--combined with a sense as one official says, that the scholar may lack some of the "bite" needed for the job--that diminish for a number of observers the likelihood of Dowling becoming dean.

PERKINS, Dwight H.

What could have been a very tricky situation faced Dwight H. Perkins three years ago when he took over as director of the Harvard Institute of International development (HIID).

A full-scale political controversy had erupted just months before. When students and faculty fought President Bok's initial choice for head of Harvard's clearinghouse on research and advice on economic development. Arnold C. Harberger of the University of Chicago turned down the position, but not until after concerns had arisen about his association with the Chilean government and his policies. Which some said stressed economic efficiency over social welfare.

Perkins, friends and colleagues say, proved and able conciliator--"smoothing over any differences," as one HHD official says, and getting the institute back on track in its primary function of research and advising third-world countries on development strategies.

His performance in solidifying the institute's standing in the University--as well as his skills in the other administrative tasks he's taken on--has led some officials and scholars on campus to speculate with unusual frequency that the 49-year-old Burbank Professor of Political Economy might be one of Bok's candidates for the job.

In almost all respects colleagues describe Perkins as a pragmatist or a moderate--from his general political outlook to his handling of administrative matters to his approach to development issues.

"He doesn't come at it from a particular nation of ideology." HIID Executive director Michael Roemer says of Perkins's writings on Third world economics. Which are widely quoted in scholarly circles, Perkins explains. "I tend to approach contemporary problems from a historical perspective."

Perkins got his doctorate from Harvard in 1964 and while his original specialty was Chinese economics his work--including more than 50 articles and several books--has expanded to the more general questions of Asian and Third World development.

"If you ask who the top three are in development, Perkins is going to be there for sure," says one colleague.

Beyond his own research, Perkins has had a fair amount of administrative experience though not in the general Faculty affairs some other possible candidates have had a hand in. He served a stint as associate director of the East Asian Research Center and then as chairman of the Economics Department before taking on his HIID responsibilities.

As HIID director Perkins is said to be a diplomat who doesn't "needlessly ruffle feathers," in the words of one associate, but one who has worked hard to strengthen the institute's image as an impartial organization seeking only to improve the lot of the country needing advice.

One factor that could favor Perkins if he wanted the post is his relatively low profile on the Faculty. Which has apparently enabled him to avoid any major antagonisms. One long-time faculty member observes that Perkins has not been even a minor participant in the few really contentious issues to galvanize the Faculty over the past 10 to 15 years. Such as the Core and earlier on the debate over the Vietnam War and the student takeover and police bust of University Hall.

"Among his peers he is regarded as smart immensely conscientious and immensely fair-minded," summarizes one observer.

WILSON, James Q.

James Q. Wilson shattuck Professor of Government is no stranger to gossip about high-level administrative positions. When he was an up-and-coming 39-year-old scholar in 1970 for instance. Wilson's name was circulated in lists of candidates for the Harvard presidency. And shortly after that, Wilson was reported to be one of the leading candidates to replace Dean of the Faculty John T. Dunlop the labor economist who left to join the Nixon Administration.

So it's no surprise that Wilson is once again the subject of similar speculation as Harvard gets ready to replace the man who replaced Dunlop--Rosovsky.

Colleagues and friends say Wilson's eloquence, reputation as a scholar of American government and tough-minded--but fair--negotiating skills make it very likely that the longtime Harvard professor is one Bok's list of candidates for the deanship.

A California native who almost wasn't going to college until he won a debating scholarship to the University of the Redlands. Wilson received his doctorate from the University of Chicago and has gone on to become a prolific scholar in topics such as city politics bureaucracy law enforcement and crime--not to mention and accomplished scuba diver.

In the process he has made his mark as one of Harvard's better known professors, probably because of his proclivity to take on controversial topics--affirmative action and crime prevention for example--in more popular publications like Commentary magazine.

Wilson shies away from the neo-conservative label hung on him by many political commentators, who point to what they behave are his hardline stances on issues like crime policy. He is known in that field as an advocate of emphasizing deterrents for stopping crimes.

"Most of things I write are for other scholars, and I don't think that any 'isms' can be attached to them," he says pointedly.

Even beyond his teaching and research, Wilson has seen a fair share of controversy in the various administrative tasks he has carried out over his Harvard career. "He's the sort of man everybody would like to see in charge when there's a crisis." summarizes one observer.

Another admirer his dissertation adviser Markham Professor of Government Edward C. Banfield for example remembers an incident from the late 1960s. When Wilson served as chairman of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard.

The center he recalls sponsored a study by Martin Anderson--who later becams a top adviser to President Reagan--called. "The federal Bureaucracy," a vehement critique of the government's urban renewal policies that sparked outrage among bureaucrats.

"It was regarded as a political act on the part of the Joint Center, {Wilson} met the criticism very effectively by himself organizing a symposium on urban renewal, "Banfield says. He calls Wilson's handling of the situation "rather statesmanlike," the type of performance that makes people think of him as a possible dean.

More recently, Wilson served a crucial role in helping, bring the Core Curriculum to fruition in the 1970s, acting as chairman of the task force that drew up the basic outlines of the liberal education program, In general, says one Harvard official the professor is seen as someone to go to for advice when major problems crop up.

For all his skills, some say Wilson's image fair or not as an outspoken handliner rubs some

people the wrong way in a more ideologically liberal Faculty. He is regarded by some as a "friend of the cops, a hard-hat guy," one scholar says.

Such an image probably stems from Wilson's prominent role on the Faculty's disciplinary process in the turbulent period of the late '60s and early '70s, as well as his participation in the so called "Conservative Caucus" of professors