Although the activism quieted through themid-1970s, divestment would prove to be a lastingthorn in Bok's side. In 1978, some 3500 protestersheld a candlelight vigil and the next day tookover Massachusetts Hall, forcing Bok and otheradministrators to temporarily move to Dana PalmerHouse for the day.

In the 1980s, divestment activism continued togain strength, reaching its peak in 1986. After aseries of confrontations with Bok and his topadvisors, students built shanties in the Yard,leaving them for all to see as Harvard geared upfor its 350th anniversary celebration.

Although divestment activism has never reachedthe levels it did in 1986, students have continuedto press for complete abdication from all firmsassociated with South Africa--a move they say isessential, but which Bok has consistentlydescribed as irresponsible.

One alumni activist today called Bok'sdivestment stance a "complete failure to respondeffectively to change in South Africa."

"It is obviously an issue that has taken a lotof time over the years," Bok said today. "I'veacted on arguments I thought were right. It's adisagreement of principle."

Union Battles

But if activists have not yet won theirdivestment fight, another equally hard-foughtbattle--one to unionize the University's clericaland technical employees--finally succeeded in1988, despite Bok's objections.

Ironically, the union movement began the sameyear Bok became president, as a small group ofwomen at the Medical School began a movement tounionize the 700 staff members across the river.The University fought unionization, but by 1988,the effort had gained enough momentum to call aUniversity-wide vote on the issue.

Throughout the final year of the campaign,union organizers were extremely critical of Bok.Although he had gained a reputation as a strongunion supporter as a labor law expert at the LawSchool, Bok--in the role of a manager--opposedunionization and unsuccessfully contested theunion's narrow victory.

Faculty Issues

While Bok's decentralized adminstration leftdeans and other managers officially responsiblefor many matters, very little was decided at theUniversity without his approval--especially indealings with FAS.

Bok appointed Henry Rosovsky as dean in 1973,and strongly supported Rosovsky's efforts tocreate and implement the core Curriculum, whichsparked national debate over the state of Americanhigher education. Bok then picked A. MichaelSpence to succeed Rosovsky, and publicly supportedSpence's initiatives to improve conditions forjunior faculty and minority hiring at Harvard.

But Bok's commitment to Spence's initiativeswere often questioned, as his reliance ontraditional methods and standards for facultyhiring often stood in the way of change.Ironically, Bok's decentralized style--along witha strong dose of institutional momentum--oftenmade reform more difficult.

Bok created the Afro-American StudiesDepartment, but saw it fall into disarray inrecent years. Currently, the department has onlyone tenured professor.

In addition, Harvard's tenure system--which Bokhas been unwilling to reform--has given theUniversity a reputation as a dead-end for manyjunior faculty around the country.