President Meets With Corporation

President Neil L. Rudenstine emerged from his medical leave to meet with one of Harvard's governing boards last weekend, according to acting president Albert Carnesale.

In the meeting, the Corporation did not vote on Rudenstine's proposed compromise on the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), which would create a fund of alumni money to help support Harvard students' participation in MIT's ROTC program.

The president has already begun planning his full-time return to work, scheduled to happen by the end of February, Carnesale said.

"First of all, [Rudenstine is] resting [and] reading a great deal, both professional materials and materials just for the fun of it," Carnesale said.

Suffering from "severe fatigue and exhaustion," the president took a medical leave of absence the last week in November.

"We've been talking primarily about how to structure things so that upon his return he can be doing the job in the manner and circumstances he would set for himself," Carnesale said.

Rudenstine will assume all of his responsibilities when he goes back to work next semester, but he has not yet set an official return date, the acting president said.

"The idea is when he returns, he returns," Carnesale said. "We don't anticipate having a president and an acting president simultaneously."

Rudenstine and his wife Angelica Z. Rudenstine will spend some of the next several weeks on vacation at an undisclosed location.

"They're smart enough to go someplace where it's warm," Carnesale said.

ROTC Compromise

Carnesale presented Rudenstine's ROTC plan at the Corporation meeting.

Funds for MIT's program currently come out of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences budget.

"We have not asked them to vote on it," Carnesale said of the Corporation. "There are a couple of issues about ROTC that were raised by the Verba committee that were not addressed in President Rudenstine's report."

These controversial issues include how the alumni donations will be managed, how to describe the program to prospective students, and whether to conduct a ROTC commissioning ceremony at Commencement.

The Corporation will ultimately approve a plan for dealing with the program, which has met with resistance on campus because of the military's anti-gay policy.

The compromise has been lambasted by members of the faculty, who are demanding the University cut all ties with ROTC.

"I heard what the faculty had to say, and I'm trying to think through in my own head what's the right outcome all things considered," Carnesale said.

Carnesale said he will take the proposal to the Corporation for a vote before Rudenstine returns.

"We're not talking about months," he said

The Corporation will ultimately approve a plan for dealing with the program, which has met with resistance on campus because of the military's anti-gay policy.

The compromise has been lambasted by members of the faculty, who are demanding the University cut all ties with ROTC.

"I heard what the faculty had to say, and I'm trying to think through in my own head what's the right outcome all things considered," Carnesale said.

Carnesale said he will take the proposal to the Corporation for a vote before Rudenstine returns.

"We're not talking about months," he said