This week, FM surveyed 100 students to see how many could pick out Interim University President Derek C. Bok from a line-up of three other Harvard professors. After a lot of puzzled looks and embarrassed laughs, here are the results:
19% of those surveyed mistook Harvard Medical School Professor of Medicine Martin Hirsch for Bok.
9% of those surveyed mistook Buttenwieser University Professor Stanley H. Hoffman for Bok.
32% of those surveyed mistook Pellegrino University professor emeritus Edward O. Wilson for Bok.
And 40% of those surveyed got the man himself.
Says one first-year male student, “I don’t mean to sound racist, but they’re all old white men....They all look the same to me; I can’t tell them apart!”