Bok has said this adherence stems from anunwillingness to compromise Harvard's highstandards and reputation. However, some academicshave argued that if Harvard truly wants tomaintain its reputation, it must revise its tenuresystem so that it can still attract quality juniorprofessors.
Back to the Law School
Tenure troubles of a different nature alsobrought Bok into the fray at the Law School, wherehe had been dean for two years before becomingpresident.
When the faculty became deadlocked over thepromotion of several left-wing scholars, DeanJames Vorenberg '49 asked Bok to intervene,breeching the school's traditional autonomy andconvening his own ad-hoc committees to review thecases of two professors.
Both times, Bok ultimately decided that theradical scholars did not deserve tenure, promptingsome professors to protest apparent intolerancewhile others to commended his commitment tointegrity. Bok's subsequent appointment of RobertC. Clark--a particularly conservativeprofessor--to succeed Vorenberg only renewed thedebate.
"He's a person of immense integrity anddedication," said Clark Byse, Byrne Professor ofAdministrative Law at the Law School. "I very muchadmire his effort to address matters ofsubstance."
Championing Higher Education
Bok is perhaps best known outside Harvard forhis controversial debates about higher educationwith University of Chicago Professor Allan Bloomand former Secretary of Education William J.Bennett. Much of this debate has centered aroundHarvard's Core Curriculum, which was establishedin 1979 by then-Dean of Faculty Henry Rosovsky.
This year, Bok again took up the cause ofhigher education, using his annual report todefend America's colleges and universities againstwhat he said was unprecedented attacks from thelikes of Bloom and Bennett.
Radcliffe Merger
Although often noted for his commitment totradition, Bok presided over a revolutionarychange in one of the College's most longstandingtraditions--its single-sex status.
Although plans for the "non-merger merger"between Harvard and Radcliffe had begun before Boktook office, he and former Radcliffe PresidentMatina S. Horner completed and implemented it inthe 1970s.
Harvard PresidentsHenry Dunster 1640-1654Charles Chauncy 1654-1672Leonard Hoar 1672-1675Urian Oakes 1675-1681John Rogers 1682-1684Increase Mather 1685-1701John Leverett 1708-1724Benjamin Wadsworth 1725-1737Edward Holyoke 1737-1769Samuel Locke 1770-1773Samuel Langdon 1774-1780Joseph Willard 1781-1804Samuel Webber 1806-1810John Thornton Kirkland 1810-1828Josiah Quincy 1829-1845Edward Everett 1846-1849Jared Sparks 1849-1853James Walker 1853-1860Cornelius Conway Felton 1860-1862Thomas Hill 1862-1868Charles William Eliot 1869-1909Abbott Lawrence Lowell 1909-1933James Bryant Conant 1933-1953Nathan Marsh Pusey 1953-1971Derek C. Bok 1971-1990