To many undergraduates President Pusey is the single biggest mystery of Harvard University. Most of us amble through our four years and have only two opportunities to talk to him: once at the freshman tea as we go through the reception line and then a few years later during the question and answer period of a special House dinner. Otherwise, the private Pusey is unknown to us and we are forced to view the public Pusey alone, through the media and University News Office press releases.

Pusey's public accomplishments in terms of physically building up the University are impressive. He became President in 1953, and since then the annual Harvard budget has increased from $36 million to $176 million; the number of Corporation appointees has jumped from 2961 to 7357; and the number-of endowed chairs has more than doubled from 122 to 275. These are the sort of statistics Pusey most often points out when he talks of his years as President.

We read that Pusey is a figure of nationwide stature. During the national student strike Nixon picked him to lead a delegation of eight college presidents to discuss campus turmoil and its relation to the Nixon administration. Pusey is currently serving a two-year term as President of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and elite group of 42 universities in which he is now one of the senior men.

The outsider might have thought that Pusey would serve until the mandatory retirement age of 66. But on February 16, 1970, the Corporation accepted Pusey's resignation effective June 1971-two years early. At that time, Pusey stated:

"... It has always been Harvard's strength-rooted as she is in tradition-that she has never had any inclination to mark time. Her characteristic manner is to be continually making fresh starts. Those great classes of graduates-largely of the 1920's and 1930's-which have made my administration possible have in considerable measure now discharged their responsibility-especially perhaps those of the twenties of which I am a part. In any case the time has come for a renewed effort which will enlist the energies of many younger Harvard men...."

His statement implies that he has had some recent trouble behind the scenes in running the University. Students, faculty, and administrators generally upbraid him the most for his lack of personal contact with them and his handling of the April 9, 1969 University Hall occupation. Private pressures built to the point where Pusey felt his generation's time was up.

Not knowing what to expect, I went to Massachusetts Hall last month a few hours after an SDS demonstration, to make an appointment with Pusey. The outside door was locked. I knocked and a University policeman unlocked the door from the inside. The policeman questioned me in the small alcove, told me to wait there, and brought Pusey's secretary to me, locking us both in the alcove while we discussed our business. Pusey's secretary remained in the alcove until after I left via the outside door. She later telephoned and said that Pusey would see me in ten days, for the first exclusive CRIMSON interview in more than a year.

When I returned to Massachusetts Hall, a plainclothes University policeman ushered me into the reception room. At the precise moment the interview was supposed to begin, Pusey's secretary came out from an office further down the hall. She led me down the corridor to the corner office on the left. Plush red carpeting covered both the hallway and Pusey's office, which is spacious with an unusual, empty look to it.

Pusey was cordial but seemed slightly unnerved at the beginning of the interview. Our talk began ominously with his pointing to my tape recorder and saying "I don't talk into those things. You'll have to take notes." From there on in, he was friendly and answered most questions as directly as he could.

I asked Pusey what he considered his greatest accomplishments as President and which aspects of the job gave him the most satisfaction. He visibly loosened up and replied, "The way we have been able not only to maintain Harvard's standing but extend it. There have been introduced a number of new programs that were called for by the changing circumstances of our time." He highlighted the House courses, international programs, and developments in the arts, urban affairs, and environmental studies.

Pusey said he enjoyed "being able to find the support for these programs and finding the people to staff them. It's not my doing, really. It's been the work of all the faculties." He said he discusses "possible changes with the deans" and helps to find ways to put the programs into effect.

He is reputed to be a shy, modest man and did not elaborate on the frustrations of fundraising, cutting red tape, and getting people to accept new ideas. However, Pusey talked at length when I asked him what he considered his major blunders and which aspects of the job he considered the least pleasant.

After Pusey paused briefly and sighed, he said his major blunders "would obviously be in the area of mistakes in judgment about people." He said the least pleasant aspect of his job is "having to accept on this campus the kinds of activities the extreme radical groups have introduced the last several years. We've tried to make clear that people are entitled to have any opinions they want," Pusey said. But "certain actions that interfere with the actions of other people are totally unacceptable." He said that Harvard students "ought to be ashamed to be numbered among these self-righteous zealots."

Pusey said that "the idea of some people-that the University is a servile slave of a rotten society-is such a deep untruth that I don't see how anyone coming to Harvard can entertain such ideas." Referring to the leaders of the April 1969 University Hall takeover, he said, "In their starry-eyed view, they think they are leading a revolution in America. They're trying to radicalize all the people. This small group of people has lived in a world of fantasy. I don't think I can reason with these people."

He said that out of the 6000 Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates, there are 50 or 60 hard core extremists instigating most of the student disruptions.