A President With the Right Priorities

The Crimson scooped the nation on the announcement that former Princeton Provost Neil L. Rudenstine would become the 26th President of Harvard University. Rudenstine's stated commitment to diversity won him praise from The Crimson's staff, as excerpts from the editorial following the announcement show.

After listening to the priorities and concerns of Neil L. Rudenstine, we are truly astounded that he was chosen to be Harvard's 26th president.

Not because we disagree with his priorities and concerns. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rudenstine's priorities and concerns are the same priorities and concerns we have plastered all over this page for years.

That's why we're so surprised. We know that the Kremlinesque presidential search committee wasn't listening to the priorities or concerns of The Crimson staff, or any other students, for that matter. Could it be that, deep down, the search committee--which we have compared unfavorably to the Mafia--shared our priorities and concerns all along?

Probably not. In any case, congratulations are due to Rudenstine, and we welcome his selection with high hopes--and high expectations. Here we provide a synopsis of some primary priorities and concerns. We sense the possibility that they may finally be addressed.

Harvard can certainly boast one of the world's finest faculties. It can also boast of the world's whitest, malest, oldest, stodgiest, non-teachingest faculties. Much can be done to attract professors of diverse races, genders, ages, academic backgrounds and educational attitudes without sacrificing quality.

Under Harvard's present system, tenure decisions are consigned to ad hoc committees of experts from outside the University. This archaic process excludes innovative scholarship, devalues teaching skills and drives young talent to other schools....Rudenstine should consider installing a tenure track. At the very least, he should abolish the ad hocs.

But administrative changes are not enough...a fundamental revolution in attitude [is needed]. Bok has formally vetoed or informally discouraged the tenure applications of several popular professors, especially in non-traditional fields of scholarship...

Harvard needs junior faculty in Afro-American Studies. It has none. Harvard must make a serious effort to increase the pool of scholars in the field and others like it. It hasn't.

These same criticisms apply to Harvard's half-hearted efforts to attract women and minority scholars. Harvard must do more to fill up the pipeline with women and minority graduate students. By making academic professions more attractive to potential scholars, Harvard can help make academia more diverse.

Finally, Harvard is notorious for its teachers' aversion to teaching, not to mention their aversion to students. Under Bok, a strong supporter of Danforth Center research into teaching methods, the Medical School instituted New Pathways, a highly successful program emphasizing student-teacher interaction in small groups. Similar progress is badly needed throughout the University.

Harvard's undergraduate education is a mess. As undergraduates, this bothers us quite a lot. Once again, the primary obstacle may be University attitudes--especially the attitudes at the top. To undergraduates, as to Arthur Miller's ill-fated salesman, attention must be paid.

The undergraduate program is riddled with problems--inadequate advising, inaccessible professors, clueless teaching fellows, to name a few. But most students of the College would agree that Public Enemy Number One is the big, bad ineffectual Core Curriculum which, ironically, has been praised as one of Bok's major accomplishments.

The Core purports to expose Harvard students to a wide range of "modes of inquiry." Of course, Core professors don't teach "modes of inquiry." ....We don't learn much of anything, period.

To make matters worse, Core classes are logistical nightmares. They are tremendously over-enrolled and incompetently organized. It's time for radical change. Distribution requirements would be an improvement. A standardized series of introductory survey courses would be an improvement. Anything would be an improvement on the irrational system now in place. Rudenstine should look into the administration and substance of the Core.

As the University prepares for the largest fund drive in higher education history, questions of University-wide administration have become the focus of debate....

We urge President Rudenstine to safeguard the interests of under funded schools whenever possible, and to challenge the prerogatives of the monoliths whenever necessary....

When money becomes very important, donors become very important. And when donors become very important, they gain a lot of influence. Too much influence, sometimes.

Rudenstine will need to keep a vigilant eye trained on potential fundraising excesses....When climbing into bed with moneyed interests, the University should be extremely careful to keep its academic principles independent from its funding sources--a goal that will become more difficult (and more important) to uphold as fundraising is accelerated. Harvard should not sell out to the highest bidder.

If Harvard did sell out, we might not even find out about it. Many of the University's financial transactions are hidden from oversight in a complex of holding companies--rather uncharacteristic of an academic institution.

Money is good. Money can ensure the University's security in a financially unpromising future. But the Wall Street types who play with Harvard's money need to be watched. The Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) knows very little about Harvard's investment practices.

One of Rudenstine's first tasks should be to overhaul the University's outmoded financial system...

The shocking this is, Neil Rudenstine already seems to know all this.

While at Princeton, Rudenstine earned a reputation for being receptive to unconventional scholarship....Since his appointment, he has repeatedly emphasized the importance of attracting minorities into academia. He has announced his commitment to bolstering undergraduate education at Harvard....He has discussed the importance of University unity, the need for an overall educational mission, his aversion to absolute administrative decentralization. He plans to appoint a provost...for coordinating Harvard's atomized parts.

Sounds good to us. It has sounded good to a lot of students for a long time. But no one was listening. Rudenstine has been universally praised by the Princeton community as a great listener. Princeton affiliates say they have never met a more accessible administrator. Rudenstine himself has promised to talk to anyone with questions and says he would consider holding office hours if there is a student market. He is even contemplating a move on campus.

Sounds good to us.