While You Were Gone...

There were no torches passed, gavels handed off or ceremonials of any sort on June 30 when outgoing President Neil L. Rudenstine left his Mass. Hall office for good. His replacement Lawrence H. Summers officially assumed the presidency on Sunday, July 1.

The first round of ceremonies were completed in advance of Rudenstines final week, with a wide array of Harvard groups toasting his tenure and commemorating his departure at events held in New York, Boston and Cambridge.

The official University welcome for Summers will be held off until his Inaugural gala, two days of events scheduled for Oct. 11 and 12. The official installation of Summers, a ceremony that will include an formal academic procession, has been set for 2:30 on Oct. 12 in Tercentenary Theatre.

Summers found several vacancies to be filled when he arrived in July. Most pressing is filling the position of the Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs, which Paul Grogan stepped down from in June.

Summers has been consulting with Washington friends and colleagues about their thoughts on the position.

Administration sources named Alan Stone, Columbia University’s vice president for public affairs, as a leading candidate heading into the final stretch.

Another key position was that of the Provost. Summers will retain the position, resurrected under Rudenstine, but administrators say that the role of the provost under Summers is an open question. Summers began work on the search, and a some decision on the position was expected by mid-fall.

Summers must also select deans for the Graduate School of Education and the Divinity School and will immediately step into the sometime contentious tenure process, in which he will he holds final say.

Though Summers has been hesitant to reveal much about his agenda, general themes did begin to emerge in Summers’ early meetings with representatives of the University’s various schools. Summers began to put his mark on physical planning, stressing the need for the schools keep the University’s options open when it comes to development of Harvard’s Allston campus.

Relocation of schools currently residing in Cambridge is a distinct, albeit distant, possibility. Summers cautioned the schools that further development in Cambridge—such as expansion of the law school— could not proceed without at least consideration of what that development would mean under various scenarios for Allston.

Summers’ first day, however, was filled by more immediate concerns.

After arriving at the office promptly at 9 a.m., Summers checked his email on the new Dell computer installed over the weekend in his officethe first computer to be used in the presidents office, since former President Neil L. Rudenstine shunned computers.

Summers met with an official from the University benefits office to learn about his new options for health care and retirement plans. He set up photos on the side-table, and talked with staff about getting posters for the walls. The new president even went around the building to introduce himself.

There were, however, indications that Summers was not just any employee. The photos he set up were signed by former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore ’69, and a framed $1 bill with Summers signature on it from his days as treasury secretary graced a side-table. And, throughout the day, well-wishers dropped off cards and presents to herald his return to Cambridge.

On the presidents desk, Rudenstine left Summers three colored juggling balls—because “I’m going to be juggling many balls at once in this job,” Summers quipped—and the traditional letter welcoming him to his new post.

Summers said his Washington friends coordinated with his Harvard friends to decorate the main office before Summers began work. He was pleasantly surprised to arrive and find photos of his children lining the bookcases.

He attended meetings in the morning, talked with various deans and members of the Corporation by telephone and lunched at the Faculty Club, catching up, he said, with old friends and new friends.

Minuto Family Drops Admission Case

In a surprise filing July 31, lawyers agreed to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Tulane student Marco G. “Mike” Minuto alleging that Harvard College had reneged on a promise of admission made by football coach Tim Murphy.

The filing, signed by both Minuto family lawyer Joseph F. Hardcastle and Harvard attorney Robert W. Iuliano, said that the dismissal came “with prejudice”—meaning that the matter cannot be raised again—and both sides agreed to pay for their own costs in the case.

“This case is over,” Hardcastle said.

The lawsuit, filed in early July, asked the court to order Harvard to admit Minuto this fall as a member of the Class of 2004. The suit charged that Murphy offered Minuto admission before Harvard “reconsidered” and denied him a place.

As a result of his failed plans to transfer, the lawsuit alleged that Minuto did not receive a full scholarship to play football at Tulane that he was otherwise promised.

However, Harvard filed a stinging response, presenting signed affidavits from Murphy denying the allegations, along with affidavits from admissions officers saying Minuto was “very weak academically” and from the Tulane coaching staff saying that Minuto had misrepresented his football credentials to the Harvard staff.

“[Minuto’s] position is legally and factually without merit, [and] his conduct has been dishonest,” Harvard’s brief concluded.

Dean of Admissions Marlyn McGrath-Lewis ’70-’73 said she sees the dismissal as a vindication for the “careful” handling of athletic recruits by the athletic department and the admissions office.

“We cannot immunize ourselves from misrepresentation and lies, but…we feel that this is a resounding endorsement of the care with which the coaching staff and the admissions office handle these cases,” she said.

For their part, the Minuto family said they sought the dismissal to avoid a long, drawn-out court battle. Minuto has since reenrolled in Tulane University.

The dismissal came two days before the first scheduled hearing on the case in U.S. District Court in Boston.

Peru Let’s Go researcher killed in bus accident

Haley S. Surti ’01, who had just days before received her bachelors’ degree cum laude from the College, died June 12 in a bus crash in Peru. She was 21.

Surti was traveling in Peru as a researcher and writer for one of the Let’s Go travel guides published by the Harvard Student Agencies (HSA). Her death was the first fatality of a Let’s Go writer in the publication’s 40-year history.

“We were extraordinarily saddened by this event,” said Robert B. Rombauer, the general manager of HSA. “Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the family.”

Surti, who came to Harvard from Pittsburgh, was a resident of Mather House and a biochemistry concentrator.

Those that were friends with Surti describe her as a unique individual.

“She was the greatest human being that I’ve ever met,” said her friend Aneesh V. Raman ’01. “She had [an amount of] energy unparalleled in any person that I’ve met. She did more in her 21 years than most of us will do in a lifetime.”

They also describe her as someone who always saw the best in people and was always upbeat.

“I never heard her say anything negative about anything or anybody,” said Sutri’s boyfriend Anand R. Shah ’99-’00. He described her as a “glass half full kind of person.”

As a student, Surti was devoted to her studies. Raman called her a person “who lived for learning.”

Rena Fonseca, senior tutor of Mather House and a senior lecturer in Indian studies, remembered Surti as one of the most dedicated students in her seminar on modern Indian history.

“I remember being struck by her serenity, her friendly warmth, and by her obvious delight in all the possibilities of her life at Harvard and at Mather,” said Fonseca in an e-mail message.

As well as being a devoted scholar while at Harvard, she was also active in numerous extracurricular activities. Particularly she was involved in several performing arts groups, including Gunghroo and the Kuumba Singers and service programs organized through the Phillips Brooks House Association. She was also an active member of Harvard’s South Asian Association.

Surti volunteered teaching children in Costa Rica during one summer while she was in college and while she studied abroad in Spain for a semester had also found time to teach children.

Friends said that Surti was quite interested in teaching as a career path. She had been planning to spend part of this fall in India working with children and was considering participating in the Teach for America program upon returning to the United States.

Namibia researcher airlifted to the capital city

Southern African Let’s Go Writer David J. Bright ’02 cut short his research in late June after a car wreck in Namibia hospitalized him. Bright’s car hit sand and flipped while he was driving June 26 in the northwestern Namibian state of Khorixas. He suffered lacerations to the head, right arm and left hand in the accident. After the accident, Bright continued to work for Let’s Go at its Cambridge headquarters.

Riverside Moratorium

In a July 30 meeting, the Cambridge City Council moved toward an eight-month extension of a moratorium on development in Cambridge’s Riverside neighborhood that was designed to prevent Harvard from going forward on its plans to build a new art museum.

The petition, sponsored by 16 residents of Riverside, was sent by the council to its development and ordinance committees for preliminary review.

Several council members stated general support for the proposal. Councilor Kathleen L. Born said that the moratorium extension would likely return to the council’s agenda for final adoption in December.

The prohibition on development, informally known as the “Loose Moratorium,” has been in effect for a large portion of the Riverside neighborhood since Oct. 2000. As originally approved, the moratorium would last for 18 months—until next April.

The moratorium prevents Harvard from building on two of its last remaining relatively undeveloped tracks of land in Cambridge. These properties are located at the intersection of Grant and Banks Street—the present site of a parking lot near Mather House—and at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Western Avenue—the present site of Mahoney’s Garden Center.

Community opposition to Harvard’s proposals to build an art museum on the property now occupied by Mahoney’s led residents to request the original development moratorium last year.

Harvard Announces New Athletics Director

Robert L. Scalise was named Harvard’s seventh Nichols Family Director of Athletics July 16. Scalise, began Aug. 1, previously served as associate dean for administration and senior executive office at Harvard Business School (HBS).

The announcement was the culmination of a six-month nationwide search to replace William J. Cleary ’56, who announced last December that he would retire at the end of June after 11 years in the position.

The announcement was made at a noontime press conference at the Murr Center attended by a number of top University and College administrators, including President Lawrence H. Summers--who officially made the appointment--Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ‘68. Many from the athletic department, including Cleary and dozens of coaches, also attended the announcement.

“I’m honored to be chosen,” Scalise said during the press conference. “As a former Ivy League player and coach this is a dream come true.”

Scalise is no stranger to Harvard athletics. He previously served as the coach to both the men’s lacrosse and women’s soccer teams.

“This is a homecoming for our new director,” Knowles said in introducing Scalise at the press conference.

From 1974 to 1987, when Scalise coached the team, men’s lacrosse amassed a combined 98-79 record. He led Harvard to its first NCAA tournament appearance--and an Ivy League championship--in 1980.

He served as the first coach of Harvard’s women’s soccer team, heading up the team from 1977 to 1986. He agreed to help start a women’s soccer program at Harvard in 1976 after being approached by several interested players.

In his ten years as head coach, his women’s soccer teams had a combined record of 113-38-11 and won three Ivy League championships. Scalise was the nation’s first collegiate women’s soccer coach to record 100 victories--a mark he reached in 1985.

While a search committee, headed by Harvard Alumni Association Executive Director Jack P. Reardon ’60, conducted interviews and screened candidates, Summers had the ultimate responsibility of making the appointment.

Over the six-month search, the search committee interviewed 15 candidates for the position, according to a prepared statement from Reardon.

In announcing Scalise’s appointment, Summers praised Scalise’s efforts to begin the women’s soccer programs and said that it showed his commitment to broadening the range of students who participate in the College’s athletic program--a commitment that Summers said he was looking for in a new athletic director.

Summers said that he also had sought an athletic director who would be a skilled manager of the department--a quality that Scalise had demonstrated as a dean at HBS.

“I’m thrilled that Bob Scalise agreed to assume the leadership of Harvard’s athletic program,” Summers said.

Scalise, who earned a masters degree from HBS in 1989, has worked in his current position, where he had oversight of the school’s $200 million budget, since 1996.

Harvard May Buy NSTAR Energy Generation Plant

Harvard is currently in discussions with NSTAR corporation, the electric and gas distribution company serving Cambridge, to purchase the Blackstone energy plant located on the south corner of the intersection of Memorial Drive and Western Ave.

Kathy A. Spiegelman, Harvard’s associate vice president for planning and real estate, discussed the possible acquisition at a July 11 meeting of the Riverside Neighborhood Study Committee.

The plant, which generates steam through burning oil, is of great importance to the University because it currently produces the bulk of the steam that is used on Harvard’s Cambridge and Allston campuses. Harvard would continue to use the plant to produce the campus’ steam after any acquisition.

The steam is primarily used for wintertime heating of Harvard’s buildings and is distributed through the campus by a series of underground walk-through tunnels and pipes.

Harvard has the opportunity to purchase the plant because NSTAR is required to sell the plant under the state’s 1997 electricity deregulation act. Under the act, the state’s electric distribution companies—the companies which deliver power to consumers—are no longer allowed to own generation facilities—the plants that actually produce the power.

Rudenstine Names Dual Acting Deans of Ed. School

In a last-minute move creating an administrative structure unprecedented at any of Harvard’s ten schools, University President Neil L. Rudenstine named two individuals to serve as acting dean of the Graduate School of Education (GSE).

Judith D. Singer and John B. Willett, who have jointly served as the academic dean of GSE for the past two years, will serve as dean until a permanent replacement can be found for retiring GSE Dean Jerome T. “Jerry” Murphy, who announced in June last year that he would step down the end of the 2000-2001 academic year.

The pair will also continue to serve as the school’s academic dean for the upcoming year.

University officials could not remember any past instances of two individuals appointed as dean of a school, even in a temporary capacity.

Rudenstine pointed to the success of their arrangement as joint academic deans in announcing the unusual appointment.

“Judy Singer and John Willett have provided excellent academic leadership to the School of Education over the past two years, while pioneering a unique administrative partnership,” Rudenstine said in a prepared statement. “I am grateful for their willingness to extend their creative approach and dedication to this new role.”

Singer said that they view their chief goal for the upcoming year as serving as stewards for the school until a new permanent dean can be named. In this role they mainly hope to continue Murphy’s policies and initiatives and leave any major moves at the school to the next dean.

Hehir To Leave Div. School

The Rev. Dr. J. Bryan Hehir, the first Catholic leader of the Harvard Divinity School (HDS), announced June 13 that he will leave his position at Harvard in December.

He has been tapped to serve as president and C.E.O. of Catholic Charities USA, the largest private network of social service organizations in the United States.

“This is a time in the history of our nation and of our world when institutions that study religion—and, of course, religious institutions—can play a vital role in serving the human family,” Hehir said in a press release.

Catholic Charities chose Hehir in part because of his academic focus on international affairs and conflict resolution.

Hehir was chosen after a year-long search by Catholic Charities. Larry Blankenship, president of the board of directors of Catholic Charities USA said he could not remember whether Hehir approached the committee or whether he was suggested to them.

“He is recognized nationally as someone who has lived his life and has been committed to those who are less fortunate,” Blankenship said. “He is extremely intelligent, a good leader and a good advocate for those in need.”

A search committee chose Hehir out of a pool of more than eighty applicants.

RESTAURANT CHANGES:

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) has opened a convenience store in the basement of Cabot House next month to provide Quad residents with the opportunity to grab a snack or a new toothbrush without leaving the Quad.

The “compact convenience store,” underneath E-entry in Cabot, offers about 1,500 items ranging from sodas, Fresh Samantha, microwave foods like popcorn, Ben & Jerry’s, to more sundry items like personal hygiene items, batteries, film and magazines, according to HUDS spokesperson Alexandra McNitt.

In addition, it includes organic food and fresh-baked items—including a “delicious” giant ginger cookie HUDS will unveil this fall.

McNutt said the store’s prices are comparable to a other convenience stores in Harvard Square and students will be able to pay with either Crimson Cash or cash HUDS is still unsure whether Board Plus will be accepted, she said.

The store will initially be open seven days a week from 6 p.m. to midnight.

C’est Bon, the popular café with five locations in the Harvard Square area, has outfitted its Mass. Ave establishment with a convenience store.

The newly expanded store, which more than triples the size of the old cafe, recently opened after six months of renovations.

The three aisles of soft-drinks, chips, canned goods, and prepared sandwiches are now spread over the space at 1436 Mass. Ave., which last housed a temporary CVS store while the neighboring CVS underwent its own renovations. The convenience store is attached to the previously existing pastry and coffee counter by means of an archway.

C’est Bon’s owner, George Sarkis, said that while the store’s current license only permits it to stay open until 12:30 a.m. weeknights and 2:30 a.m. on weekends, the store was exploring the possibility of extending its hours.

Ma Soba Express, a Harvard Square fast food restaurant serving pan-Asian cuisine, permanently closed its doors this summer after seven years of operation.

The decision to close the restaurant—located in Holyoke Center adjacent to the intersection of Dunster and Mt. Auburn—was primarily based on a desire to exit the fast food business and instead focus on higher-class dining, according to Glen D. Mah ’94, who owns Ma Soba along with his brother Clarence E. Mah ’92.