"To me it was sickening that any young people would think the University was a source of evil. I still can't understand it," he adds.

Pusey never liked outsiders interfering in the University. He campaigned against McCarthy--who later attacked several Harvard professors--back when they both lived in Wisconsin, and Pusey calls the man an "abomination," adding that he was "just amoral, an opportunist."

The years after World War II were ones of deep change. "These demonstrations were just a symptom of the fact that there was a very quick turning of the tide," he says.

But the post-war years were also ones of growth for Harvard. "The public from the end of the war on [was] very high on higher education," he says. It was then that Harvard began to recruit faculty extensively from abroad, internationalizing the University.

The physical plant and student population expanded, as did Harvard's reputation. "I've never gone anywhere I didn't find people with a great admiration and gratitude for Harvard and the things it has done," he says.

Of his presidency, Pusey says, "The period of my administration, I do think, was a constructive period in Harvard history. We made many advances in that period of time.

"It was the best job in the world. It still is," Pusey says. "Except for the last two years, it was nothing but joy. The last two, I must say, were quite unhappy years, and that was because of all the disturbances."

Judging from the applause at yesterday's convocation, when he received a specially-minted 350th medal, and at last night's Stadium show, Harvardians still think highly of the only other living University president.

Rating the administration of his successor, Derek C. Bok, Pusey says, "He's done a remarkable job in the development of the Kennedy School and the whole University, relating it more to public issues."

Looking ahead to the 400th anniversary of Harvard in 2036, Pusey, a Greek scholar, says that the center of the world will have shifted to the Pacific, away from the Atlantic. After having worked for six years with higher education in East Asia, especially with the People's Republic of China, Pusey says, "I feel myself that we have worshipped this Western tradition too long. The Chinese civilization is so much more ancient than ours, and here we look down on them."

"Harvard is already an international university," he continues. "It's outgrown its limitations of geography, space, and culture. It's not going to be a monochrome thing. It's going to be made of many strands--we just can't assume ours is going to be the only one."