President Bok begins his 12th month in office tomorrow. The following interview was conducted on May 19 by Robert Decherd.

President Bok, in a recent interview, cited numerous appointments and the reorganization of the University's central administration as the chief accomplishments of his first year in office.

At the same time, he said that progress toward educational reform and cooperation between different faculties of the University has been made, but that "it's too early to tell just how much has been accomplished in that area."

"It will be difficult to estimate the results of educational initiatives until next year at the very least," Bok said, referring to committees established to review the School of Public Health, the role of planning at Harvard, the Afro-American Studies Department, a three-year B.A. program, and the Arts at Harvard.

Saying that he "hopes and intends to reallocate (his) time more toward educational programs" next year, Bok noted that even if these programs do take a long time to implement, they "are the real reason I came into this job."

The ultimate effect of current educational reviews may not be felt for a decade, Bok said.

A disproportionate part of Bok's first year has been consumed by administrative concerns, and he maintains that he has "spent a much greater amount of time making appointments than anyone who has not been through it can imagine."

Aside from the selection of four vice presidents and various administrative assistants. Bok has had to choose three new deans, and he is still working on the appointment of an associate dean of the College who will be concerned primarily with curriculum reform and educational policy.

The first order of business last Spring, however, was cleaning Harvard's administrative house, Bok eased out most of the administrators who remained from the tenure of President Emeritus Nathan M. Pusey '28, including some, like L. Gard Wiggins, Pusey's sole vice president, who had no plans for departure.

In their stead came a fleet of aides from outside the Harvard family. The predictable result was that many of the University's more protective members panicked at the prospect of a taut, centralized bureaucracy in Massachusetts Hall which would be largely insensitive to their needs.

This reaction did not go unnoticed. "It's true that a good deal of my time has been spent on administrative organization which goes beyond new staff," Bok said. "It was essential to introduce new procedures and new habits of thought in the central administration so as to plan for the future and to know how best to conserve our resources.

"It's fair to say, I think, that this conjures up dangers of bureaucracy and red tape to some professors and students. But a major purpose of this administrative effort is to introduce economies in order to channel as much of our resources as possible to the key concerns of the University--teaching and research.

"If these steps had not been taken, we faced the danger, already experienced by many universities, of suddenly finding ourselves in a serious financial predicament, one in which drastic steps such as freezes on hiring and faculty salaries and cutbacks in educational programs would become necessary. The effect on the quality of the University and the morale and well-being of this community would be very serious, I think."

Bok said that the problems surrounding financial aid to graduate students this Spring are "symptomatic" of the broader effects of economic stringency. His satisfaction with administrative reforms made in the past 12 months is perhaps best reflected in his view that "we now have a foundation of people and procedures which will at least help us to mitigate and anticipate the effects of financial stringency even if we cannot succeed in overcoming them entirely."

The realignment of responsibilities in Massachusetts Hall centers primarily on Bok's four vice presidents, numerically less than the six recommended by the University Committee on Governance last Spring, but equally effective over the first 12 months.