'It's a Good Moment': Rudenstine Reflects

President Neil L. Rudenstine spoke with The Crimson's Vasugi V. Ganeshananthan by telephone yesterday afternoon. The following is an excerpt from their conversation.

The Harvard Crimson: How do you feel in the wake of the announcement? Relieved? Happy?

Neil L. Rudenstine: I feel, you know, like I did the day before. It was definitely the right thing. I'm looking forward to next year, because there's a tremendous amount still to be done. I'd like to bring some projects home. I'm ready to push very hard. I'm very cheerful. It's a good moment.

THC: We heard you took a walk today. How did people react to seeing you around campus after the announcement? What was on your mind?

NLR: People were stopping me, saying hello. Mostly cheerful greetings. We had nice exchanges about what a good time it's been. And fortunately it's not over yet. Yes, I went out and bought a few books...Since I saw the sun shining, it seemed like a good moment.

THC: People have been anticipating just such an announcement after the Capital Campaign ended, and now that it's several months afterward, I think some people wondered if you were going to stay a while longer. Do you think you took your colleagues by surprise? Was that your intent?

NLR: It wasn't my intent. At the time I said I would be here for 10 years, I don't think I knew whether it would be 10, nine, 11--I think people--given my stage of life--thought it would not be a lot longer than 10 years...There's not much to be gained by postponing [planning]. We have to keep institutional momentum going. I certainly didn't intend to surprise anyone, but I wasn't sure what the reaction would be...

THC: When exactly did you make the decision?

NLR: I'm not sure there was an exact moment. It's been kind of making itself inside me for several months...

THC: Who was the first to be informed?

NLR: [Laughs] [My wife] Angelica. The major faxes, FedExs and things started--the vast majority went out Monday morning. A few went earlier to people overseas, who I wanted to make sure were reached. I did alert the senior fellow of the [Harvard] Corporation [Robert G. Stone '45] in advance...

THC: How has your family reacted to the news?

NLR: ...I think they feel it's a good time in my life to have a bit of flexibility, to maybe travel a bit and do some things I'd like to do...

THC: Where do you want to travel?

NLR: We have a long list. I don't know if we'll get to all of them or when we'll get there, but it stretches from Istanbul...to Marrakech...to St. Petersburg...

THC: Can the next president avoid a Capital Campaign, or has fundraising become too crucial to higher education? Can fundraising be a lesser part of his or her job?

NLR: I think so, although quite honestly, in spite of the fact that it's obviously occupied a lot of my time, I've tried hard to make sure the academic part of the enterprise was about half of my job--even at the height of the campaign. Otherwise one might feel disconnected...So if fundraising is 30 to 35, 20 to 25 percent of the job...it should not get up into an area where it's taking up most of your time...That would be a terrible mistake. I don't think there's a necessity for another capital campaign [soon]. That has to do with the rhythm of the institution...

THC: What are your regrets? What in the past 10 years would you have handled differently?

NLR: If I had been more sensitive to the complexities and issues, I would have found a way to handle the announcement about the purchase of the land in Allston [revealed in 1997]. I think that was not something I did well, and I think it upset a lot of people, made them wary...Most of the land had been purchased already by the time I came, but how to make it public and explain--it was something that should have taken a lot more time, and I simply misjudged that...

THC: We've heard you're interested in returning to Princeton. Is that true?

NLR: ...We'll take a fair amount of time to think that one through...It's sort of hard for us to imagine not being close to a major university, and the two we know best and love are Harvard and Princeton.