Ex-Dean Excoriates Harvard Higher-Ups

Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science Harry R. Lewis ’68 has branded Harvard “soulless,” arguing that the institution fails to exert any “formative force” on its students and that the faculty are “exhausted” by their work on curricular review.

Lewis presented his newly-published book “Excellence Without a Soul,” Monday night at the Harvard Coop Bookstore to a crowd of over 100 faculty colleagues, alumni, and various College administrators.

The 280-page book draws from his over 40 years of experience with Harvard and outlines specific concerns about the direction of undergraduate education at top universities nationwide.

Lewis, whose eight-year term as dean of the College ended in 2003, said that his book pinpoints two overarching problems facing Harvard.

“On the one hand, we’re not doing much to help students identify purpose in their lives...and to help them become the mature and responsible people on which society will depend,” Lewis said.

On the other hand, he said, the undergraduate academic program lacks direction, and the faculty have “come up dry” after three years of working on the curricular review.

“I think some of this is pretty bold,” Alan B. Lenarcic ‘03 said, citing the “couple of hot shots” Lewis took at Harvard students, the Faculty, and the University president. “I remember how [Lewis] was sort of forced out, which I thought was pretty sad, so I was interested in seeing what type of comments he had, given the overtly negative title of this book.”

Lewis was removed from his administrative post after Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby merged his office with the pre-existing office of the dean of undergraduate education to create a centralized position, now held by Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71.

Lewis also said that many of the problems universities encounter are due to a “consumerist” culture in which institutions cater to students’ desire for immediate gratification. He added that problems also stem from the disconnect between the missions of a research university and an undergraduate college.

Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Howard M. Georgi ’68, who attended Monday’s event, wrote in an e-mail that the question of how education and research are balanced at a research university is “a huge issue that we have certainly not solved.”

But attendees did not uniformly praise Lewis’ conclusions.

Lenarcic said Lewis’ argument that universities should be responsible for building moral character “sounds like he’s gotten a bit up in his years...He thinks we’re the worst young kids ever in the history of Harvard.”

Lewis said after the event that one approach to the problems his book highlights is to encourage dialogue and “lateral contact” between administrators and faculty in diverse disciplines.

However, Lewis said, a full solution must originate at the top level of the University’s administration.

“Changing direction requires...leadership that views the university idealistically, as something more than a business and something more than a slave to the logic of economic competition,” Lewis read from his book.

When asked by a student if he believed Harvard was being run like a corporation, Lewis responded that Summers’ leadership style is not “corporate, it’s Washington.”

The Coop has sold over 180 copies of the book since last Thursday—167 of which were purchased at Monday’s event, according to sales associate Tamar Demerjian.

Lewis also spoke about his book Sunday morning at Memorial Church.

—Staff writer Ying Wang can be reached at yingwang@fas.harvard.edu.