Rudenstine Speaks at Eliot House Dinner

University President Neil L. Rudenstine attended a dinner in Eliot House last night where he fielded questions on topics ranging from grade inflation, faculty size and the role of university presidents.

Sitting beneath a portrait of former President Charles W. Eliot, class of 1853, Rudenstine and his wife Angelica Zander Rudenstine dined with members of the House, while being serenaded by a student string quartet.

After a brief introduction by House Co-Master Lino Pertile, Rudenstine began by addressing House life on campus, speaking about his time as a graduate student and a junior faculty member at Harvard. "The Houses have been incredibly important to me in my Harvard years,"Rudenstine said, describing how his first office at Harvard was in Adams House, where he taught undergraduate English tutorials.

He praised the House system as a way to bind the undergraduate community together.

"For me, the House system is one of the secret weapons of Harvard," Rudenstine said. "Its really hard to appreciate if you haven't had it and its wonderful if you have had it."

When Rudenstine opened the floor to questions, students continued the discussion on House life, questioning the affects of randomization, as well as the poor interaction between faculty members and the Houses.

Rudenstine said that since randomization was only instituted in the last six years, it is hard to say what effect it has had. And he said structural issues, such as professors having to be near their offices, keep them from being involved in House life.

But Rudenstine said the next years under his successor will focus on improving the Houses. His own tenure has been marked by improvements for first years, such as dorm renovations and the building of Annenberg Dining Hall.

"The next [capital] campaign, which will begin the moment I leave office, should concentrate on the Houses," Rudenstine said. One student then asked if anything was being done to cut down on large class sizes and increase focus on undergraduate teaching. Rudenstine said it is difficult for professors to balance both research and teaching. But he said the University does not make any attempts to misrepresent its student-faculty ratio.

"There's truth in advertising," Rudenstine said. "We don't hide the fact that our classes are larger, that our undergraduate student body is larger. But we still have the best student body. We still have, across the board, the best faculty and the best resources." But, he said, attempts will be made to improve the student-faculty ratio.

"We can increase the size of the faculty and keep the number of students the same, which is what we plan to do," Rudenstine said. "But it will probably take a decade, so you might not see it."

The recently highly discussed topic of grade inflation also made in into the evening's discussion.

Though Kenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield '53 has recently claimed that an influx of black students during the 1970's led to grade inflation, Rudenstine said that the explosion of graduate and professional schools is the true cause.

"The faculty over the last thirty years have begun to realize that the transcript matters," Rudenstine said, explaining that an increased number of graduate schools led professors to give better grades so that Harvard students would not be at a disadvantage.

"Often, your degree as an undergraduate is not your last degree, so you're worried about your transcript," he added.

Another student asked Rudenstine what he thinks his responsibilities are in terms of interaction with the undergraduate body.

Rudenstine said the nature of universities now, which are larger and more decentralized, make close interaction with students difficult--although he says he has spent his final year in office doing things such as going to first-year study breaks.

"On average, you are not going to see a lot of any president, because you have to remember that the president is the president of the whole university," Rudenstine said.

He said responsibilities to other graduate schools as well as fundraising limit the time of almost any university president.

"Most people have no idea what the economics of higher education are," Rudenstine said. "You do have to fundraise. If we weren't raising [money], we would simply have to start cutting back on programs."

Despite the fairly substantive questions by students, there were also many light moments during the discussion, such as when one student asked him what he would have done differently during his tenure.

"I would do differently all of the mistakes I made, which were about three a day," Rudenstine joked.

And a question about Harvard's sometimes strict alcohol policy drew an unexpected response from Rudenstine.

"If I had my way, I would move the alcohol drinking age to age 18," Rudenstine said, drawing cheers and applause from the gathering. "Just like any other piece of social life, one aught to be able to initiate people into it at a young age, and help them figure out how to do it responsibly."

Pertile praised Rudenstine's openness during the discussion.

"He touched on some of the most sensitive topics being debated in a friendly, open manner," Pertile said. "It went extremely well."

--Staff writer Imtiyaz H. Delawala can be reached at delawala@fas.harvard.edu.