Harvard Medical School Professor of Orthopedic Surgery Augustus A. White III almost made the unlikely leap from an operating room at a Harvard-affiliated hospital to the president's office at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. But in August, just five months before he would have arrived, White resigned from his appointment to the $245,000 a year position, saying he was not consulted on a key university decision.

White, who has served as a Medical School professor and orthopedic surgeon-in-chief at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital since 1978, had accepted the Maryland post in June.

White refused to be interviewed or answer written questions, but his colleagues say he will remain at the Medical School and Beth Israel.

Maryland educators and lawmakers will not easily return to business as usual. Many said they are frustrated and upset that the top choice out of 100 applicants turned down the job. White, who is Black, was also expected to ease racial tensions on campus and serve as a role model for minority students.

State leaders now are trying to learn from this academic debacle. There is debate over whether White's resignation reflects structural deficiencies in the Maryland educational system or merely a premature decision by White.

The controversy began after a conversation between White and Peter O'Malley, chair of the Maryland Board of Regents, which runs the state's higher education system. O'Malley told White of a plan to move the Maryland Law School and School of Social Work from the Baltimore campus to other colleges in O'Malley's own Prince Georges County.

In an August press release, White said the plan had been presented to him as a "fait accompli" by O'Malley and another Regent. He called it "personally and professionally objectionable and intolerable" that he was not consulted on the decision, which educators say would severely weaken the Baltimore campus.

White resigned because of the incident.

One week later, outcry from Maryland legislators and faculty forced O'Malley to resign. "I am a realist," he told the Washington Post at the time. "The only way to end this controversy is resign."

Maryland observers said that O'Malley's aggressive style had put him at the helm of Maryland's drive to reorganize its higher education system. But his hard-ball political style had also led to his demise, they said.

White "was concerned that there... were some decisions being made...by a process which did not involve open deliberation," said Dr. Mitchell T. Rabkin, President of Beth Israel.

Critics of the Maryland system note that decisions are made from the top down. A powerful Board of Regents sets the budget and makes key academic appointments in coordination with the state government.

The Board recently made headlines by forcing the resignation of 65-year-old Maryland Chancellor John S. Toll in an effort to bring younger, more energetic administrators to the school. But White said in a statement that the board's tough tactics had encroached on his authority.

"One cannot lead a complex University and develop and execute long-range plans when the political practice and reality are such that the president of the University can be told point-blank that so major an issue has been decided," White said. "This is simply not the environment in which I am willing to work."

Rabkin added that White was most concerned about the "pattern" of decision-making which left him outside the loop. "It seems to me his judgment was reasonable," Rabkin said.

Some Maryland educators dispute White's claim that the problem was systemic in nature.

"I think the normal planning process broke down," said Toll, the former chancellor. "I think the situation has now been corrected."

Toll said that a recent decision by a Board of Regents committee against moving the law and social work schools away from the Baltimore campus has allowed Maryland to "move ahead."

Several members of the Board of Regents have also hinted that the problem was never as serious as White indicated, according to the Washington Post.

Observers said that despite his reversal, White's qualifications were never in question.

"I think Dr. White is a very fine person who behaved with great integrity at every stage," Toll said.

And other Maryland officials were particularly enthusiastic about White's potential to influence young minorities.

"There are very few Augustus Whites in America which one could hold up to Black youngsters as a role model," said Maryland delegate John P. Rawlings, a prominent Black legislator. "His mere presence speaks a thousand words to people in general and to Blacks in particular."

Rawlings said he had also hoped that White's leadership role would boost racial harmony on campus.

"Deans and department heads are not going to go around offending Blacks because they will perceive that the man in charge has an affinity for [Blacks]," Rawlings said.

But for now, it's back to the drawing board for Maryland in its search for a president.

Rawlings is not optimistic. "You just don't go around finding these kinds of gems," he said.

Toll disagrees, saying Maryland "ought to be able to attract as good a president as Gus White." But Toll acknowledges that the White episode may hurt the school system for some time.

"It'll take time to recognize that the president will be the true leader of the campus," he said.

White's career may also take time to develop further. Rabkin said, "He has no plans other than to continue to build a strong orthopedic department."