Harvard Kicks Off Search For Next President

Harvard announced the makeup of the committee that will search for a successor to Neil L. Rudenstine last week, opening the process for choosing the 27th president of the University.

As in the last search in 1991, the committee is composed of the six members of the Harvard Corporation along with three members of the alumni Board of Overseers.

Robert G. Stone Jr. '45, the senior member of the Corporation, will chair the committee. D. Ronald Daniel, Hanna H. Gray, Conrad K. Harper, James R. Houghton '58 and Herbert S. Winokur '65 round out the Corporation. The three Overseers on the search committee are Sharon E. Gagnon, Thomas E. Everhart '53 and Richard E. Oldenburg '54.

No faculty members, staff or students are official members of the search committee. The search committee will instead solicit opinions from the greater Harvard community by sending out hundreds of thousands of letters to faculty, students and alumni asking for input.

University officials were not surprised about the composition of the search committee.

"The level of national attention and gossip that will surround this search will be enormous, so I am not surprised that the Corporation will be restricting the committee to a few people at high levels," wrote Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 in an e-mail message.

But Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles said the letter writing process that the search committee will use makes the search open to anyone who wants to express an opinion.

"This group will, as last time, consult very widely indeed, and solicit the views of many individuals and groups," Knowles wrote in an e-mail message. "Because of this extremely scrupulous and careful process, I am sure that all voices, whether of faculty or students, will be heard."

Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape Development John R. Stilgoe said he supports the current system, and does not think faculty members need to be on the search committee.

"I would rather have the right to write a letter, which I will do, than be represented by a faculty member who may not really represent me," Stilgoe said.

Professor of History William E. Gienapp agreed, saying that the differing views of faculty members make choosing one representative difficult.

"Faculty should be represented, but in reality there are so many views and opinions among the faculty that a token representative, no matter who was selected, could not possibly represent the various views of the faculty," Gienapp wrote in an e-mail message.

Geyser University Professor emeritus Henry Rosovsky said that Corporation member and former University of Chicago President Hanna H. Gray will provide a strong academic background for the search committee.

Rosovsky, who was both a Corporation member and acting Dean of the Faculty in 1991, was on the search committee that appointed Rudenstine.

"There is an academic on this search committee, and it's Hanna Gray," Rosovsky said. "I am perfectly sure she will represent faculty interests."

But some believe that students and faculty should have a stronger voice in the selection process.

Unlike Harvard, other universities have opened up their presidential search process in recent years, allowing students and faculty to participate.

Stanford included senior Kristen A. Torres on the search committee that selected John L. Hennessy as the university's 10th president this April.

Brown is currently using a two-tier system, with a joint student-faculty committee participating in the search process and providing input to the main search committee.

Brown anthropology professor Lina Fruzzetti, who is serving as vice chair of Brown's 13 member Campus Advisory Committee, said that a university should include faculty in the search process.

"Ignoring the voices of the faculty is a serious mistake," Fruzzetti wrote in an e-mail message. "We, after all, are the heart beat of the university."

Fruzzetti said that being involved in interviews and the selection of candidates allows faculty and students to see what direction a new president will take the University.

"The new person will have to address our concerns," Fruzzetti wrote. "We need to hear what the academic mission is of the new person."

And Robert Wiygul, one of four undergraduates on Williams College's recent presidential search committee, said meetings with students allow for an open dialogue to address student concerns.

"Ideas are more clearly stated in a face to face conversation where they can be bounced off of each other and really explored, instead of just touched on superficially," Wiygul said.

Ford Professor of Social Sciences emeritus David Riesman said that student and faculty interests should be addressed in a search process, but he does not support having faculty or students on the search committee.

Riesman co-authored the book "Choosing a College President: Opportunities and Constraints" with Graduate School of Education lecturer

Judith Block McLaughlin.

"The more people you have, the more trouble it causes," Riesman said.

And Rosovsky said that he believes there are no problems with Harvard's current process.

"I think that the way Harvard has done it in the past has worked well, without having formal committees," Rosovsky said. "And I'm sure it will work well this time."