Lewis Again Source of Controversy

Even in the normally quiet days of summer, controversy erupted between our irascible Dean of the College, Harry R. Lewis '68, and the student body. And, unsurprisingly, the culprit was once again Dean Lewis and the heavy-handed and utterly insensitive manner in which he deals with his students.

The sordid saga began in early July when the student members of the search committee in charge of finding a new director of Harvard Dining Services complained that they were being ignored by the administration. To begin with, the three students on the committee--unlike administrators--were not provided with the information they needed to properly interview the candidates. The students were also given only one working day's notice before the interviews. According to student member Rudd W. Coffey '97, Dean Lewis subsequently "humiliated" the students during the interview when one of them asked a question answered by the candidate's resume, one of the documents not provided to the students.

Relations between Lewis and the three student members were soon to deteriorate even further. On July 9, The Crimson ran an article naming the five candidates up for the position of HDS director--information which was not supposed to be made public. Dean Lewis strongly suggested that the students on the search committee were responsible for leaking the list. Even though he admitted he had no evidence that they were responsible for the leak, Lewis subsequently wrote in an e-mail obtained by the Crimson that "the publication in The Crimson of the names...has undermined, in the eyes of some, confidence in the wisdom of giving students sensitive information."

This tale ends, fortunately, in a relative happy manner. Just last week, Dean Lewis "clarified" his position and told The Crimson that the place of students on search committees is secure, and even praised their past involvement.

But these kind words are too little, too late. Lewis' behavior during this incident is deplorable and completely unbecoming of an individual in his position.

To begin with, he once again showed the complete lack of concern for student input that he demonstrated so markedly during such debates last year as randomization and the search for the new dean of public service. His ability to ignore us while paying us lip service is almost admirable, in a perverse sort of way.

But what is really telling is the manner in which he jumped unabashedly to the conclusion that the student members of the committee were responsible for the leak, and then continued on to chastise them. The fact that Lewis sent the aforementioned e-mail a mere day after The Crimson printed the leaked information is indicative of how willing he is to pin blame on students. Since Lewis himself admitted to having no evidence against the students, his actions were both immature and counterproductive. We would expect the Dean of Harvard College, when faced with such a situation, to privately contact the three students in question and express his concerns to them without bitterly assigning blame. All Lewis has accomplished by acting in this manner is to further convince the student body that he holds them in contempt to a degree most of us usually reserve for people who have done us some grievous wrong in the past.

Alas, as we head into a brand new year at Harvard, full of promise and tales untold, it has become obvious that relations between the students and Dean Lewis will be no better than they were last year, and might, if this is conceivable, be worse. And while it may be wrong to pin blame for all the evils of the world on Dean Lewis, it is undeniable that students will continue to suffer until he learns that we are competent adults who can, and should, be treated with respect.