Students Picked To Advise Search

Seven undergraduates were chosen by fellow students last night to advise University President Lawrence H. Summers on selecting a new dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Six of the students were picked by the Undergraduate Council’s Student Affairs Committee (SAC) from among a slate of 12 candidates.

Many indicated in presentations to the committee last night that they would push Summers to select a dean who would seek more diversity in the Faculty and more varied course offerings.

Council President Sujean S. Lee ’03 also announced last night that she had picked Katharine B. Greer ’02 to serve as chair of the Undergraduate Advisory Committee on the Dean of the Faculty.

Two of the elected representatives have previously pushed for the addition of an ethnic studies program at Harvard. William L. “Lonnie” Everson ’02, chairs the Harvard Foundation’s Student Advisory Committee and Ethan Y. Yeh ’02, is a member of the Ethnic Studies Coalition.

In addition to Everson and Yeh, who were unavailable for comment last night, the other members of the undergraduate advisory committee elected last night were: Brian J. Emeott ’04, Alexander B. Patterson ’03, Daniel D. Springer ’03 and Rebeccah G. Watson ’04.

In speeches they made before last night’s vote, many candidates said the advisory group would try to create a forum for student discussion, rather than advancing a certain agenda.

“The committee’s finished product will be the result of a discussion of issues that deeply concern students—a discussion that will be invaluable Harvard’s campus,” Watson said.

According to a timetable set by Lee, the committee will draft a report within the next three weeks and the council will vote on their recommendations early next month. If the council adopted the recommendations, they could be presented to Summers in a meeting in mid-May, she said.

Rohit Chopra ’04, SAC chair and an organizer of the advisory committee, said that while many candidates advocated greater diversity in Faculty and courses, it is too early to judge what recommendations the committee will make. He said the group’s first task will be to collect student opinion.

In picking the panel’s chair, Lee said she based her selection on responses to questions she had e-mailed to a list of prospective committee chairs.

Lee said that Greer, a varsity skier who also has served as vice president of the Women in Business student group, would bring leadership and community involvement.

“She’s someone who has tremendous energy and is very thoughtful about serious issues,” Lee said.

Greer said one of the main challenges the committee will face is gaining legitimacy as a voice for students. She said she hopes to make the committee “as representative a body as possible.”

Greer also said the committee would be faced with the task of translating general student opinions and concerns into specific qualities a new dean should embody.

Jeremy R. Knowles announced in February that he will step down as dean of the Faculty at the end of June.

While students likely would articulate feelings on issues such as Faculty diversity, she said it would be unlikely that students had thought about what type of person the new dean should be.

“We’re trying to draw abstract qualities from concrete issues,” she said.

According to Chopra, Harvard has been more reluctant than some other Ivy League schools to allow student input into high-level decision.

At Princeton, for example, two students sat on the committee to select the University’s new president last year.

“We’re going to prove to President Summers and all future presidents that student input is valuable and necessary,” Chopra said.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.