Three Students Attend Dean of the College Search Discussion in Pfoho

Just three students were in attendance on Thursday evening as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith and five members of the faculty search committee for the new Dean of Harvard College led an open and ranging discussion on the search in Pforzheimer House.

Despite the surprisingly low turnout—about 25 students attended last week’s dean search forum in Lowell House—the event featured an inclusive discussion on topics ranging from the role of the search committee to the ideal background of the new dean.

A topic of interest throughout the evening was what role students and the 21-member faculty committee would play in the search process. Ultimately, Smith will decided the appointment in consultation with University President Drew G. Faust and the Harvard Corporation.

“Obviously we have an advisory role,” said government professor Steven R. Levitsky. “Dean Smith is ultimately going to make the decision. But he’s smart enough to know that this is a big and diverse and complex University, and he drew, very purposely, a pretty diverse group of faculty, faculty who represent a bunch of different departments, different tendencies and, in general, faculty who talk to a lot of students.”

Smith said that he planned to have finalists interview with both him and the committee, and he said that he was considering consulting a smaller group of students later in the process.

“When we get down to a small number of candidates, there are a few students we might pull to just have opinions,” Smith said. He added that the sensitive nature of deliberations might make student involvement complicated.

“As you might imagine, we’re going to do a very broad-based discussion of candidates and their plusses and minuses and that can kind of get difficult with students in the room,” he said.

Woven throughout the evening was a ranging discussion on concerns that students and committee members hoped the new dean might address. These included the General Education program, which is already set to be reviewed in the coming year, and House renewal.

“I want a strong dean who can represent the house system and advocate for the house system to Mike and to the Corporation and to the donors,” said physics professor and Leverett House master Howard M. Georgi ’68. “It’s not going to work unless [the dean is] somebody who knows about [the house system] and believes in it and interacts with students often.”

Georgi also said that he would seek a dean with “a significant Harvard experience,” preferably at the College.

Towards the end of the meeting, Smith reflected on the last few weeks of the search process, during which he has held four student forums—three open to all students and one with the Undergraduate Council.

“There are some policies that we’ve heard of as we’ve talked to students, especially when we met with the freshmen [and heard] their initial reaction to some of the aspects of the clubs and the extracurricular activities, [that] I think opened a bunch of our eyes as to what's actually happening here,” Smith said. “We can probably come up with some policy changes in cooperation with the UC and the student body that could remove some of the pressures.”

—Staff writer Matthew Q. Clarida can be reached at matthew.clarida@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattClarida.