Despite Glauber's nonchalance, Harvard's business scholars are more than adequately represented in Bush's Treasury Department.
Former Professor of Business Administration David W. Mullins can also count himself in the B-School contingent, having this year become assistant secretary of the treasury for domestic finance.
Yet still, numbers, says Assistant Professor of Economics Lawrence B. Lindsey, are not the issue. "They picked the right group of people from Harvard," says Lindsey, who is working in the White House as associate director for domestic economic policy.
Chief of Staff for the Vice President William Kristol '73 says he thinks that the people chosen for posts in the administration were selected because they were overwhelmingly qualified in their field, rather than for any Harvard connections.
"I'm here from my own connections. The Kennedy School did not place any of us," Kristol says.
Kristol, who taught at the school of government from 1985 to 1986, says he agrees with Bush's assessment of the institution.
"[Some of us] agree with the president's comments about Harvard...It is certainly very, very true that many Democrats and liberals come out of Cambridge and Harvard," Kristol says.
Assessments of the school aside, there are those at Harvard who would argue that by perenially placing its high-powered politicos in Washington--no matter what their party affiliation--the University must confront an almost-continual outflow of some of its most prominent scholars.
University policy does seem to allow, and even encourage, its professors to serve in government. For example, the Kennedy School guarantees two-year leaves of absences to those who chose to serve.
Singer says he believes it benefits the school to have its professors in the administration, adding that it is good publicity for the school.
"Our mission is excellence in government. It only makes sense to us that our faculty be actively involved in what we teach and study," Singer says.
Professors' descriptions of the impact of their Washington sojourns seem to bear out this assertion.
"Clearly I'm not doing a lot of research here, but what I'm doing now can help me do better research back at school. And being a B-School professor has been very effective preparation," Glauber says. He adds that he will return to teaching at the end of his two years as long as he is "still alive."
"The things you know, the perspective you have has to change dramatically with government service," Glauber says.
Lindsey, who also plans to return to teaching, says he believes that government service changes and improves the teaching experience.
"[Cross-over] is very useful in both jobs. Serving in politics helps you see the real world implications. Serving in academia provides people time for reflection," Lindsey says.
During his time in office, though, Lindsey, who taught introductory economics with Feldstein, says he cannot maintain many ties with the school.
"There are ethics laws which govern my ability to communicate with Harvard, and severely limit it," Lindsey says.
But whether or not Republicans are willing to acknowledge the extent of the Bush Administration's Harvard connections, most observers say Harvard has benefited in at least one sense from the GOP victory.
Concludes Kristol, "There certainly would be many more leaves of absence if Dukakis had won. The school should be happy Bush won."