It is the rare undergraduate who truly cares about the powers that run this colossus of higher education. Stiff-necked bureaucratic types, after all, have little to say about whether you have a keg party in the Yard or dump you roommate into a "psycho-single." (That's left to the stiff-necked proctors and tutors.)

Consequently, few students--or faculty members, for that matter--hear much about what goes on in the depths of Massachusetts and University Halls.

The President

Neil L. Rudenstine has just completed his first year as president of the University. Undergraduates' traditional attitude toward a Harvard president is awe tempered with disdain. But when Rudenstine arrived on campus last year, he quickly emerged as a cult hero. At his lavish inauguration ceremony, admiring first-years ex-pressed their approval with signs reading, "We love you, Neil."

Rudenstine occasionally holds office hours for students who want to go straight to the top with their problems. He has also been willing to get involved in College crises, even to the point of convening a summit on racial issues with undergraduates this spring.

Rudenstine received rave reviews after his first year. Colleagues praise his efforts to build a leadership team that works well together, and to bring together a University that had grown vastly decentralized.

Recently, though, Rudenstine has come under attack from leaders of the clerical and technical workers' union, who say the president "skipped town" during tough labor negotiations. The president's handling of the union--and of his own unruly deans--will be an important test of his leadership when he returns from a trip to Europe this summer. Further ahead, Rudenstine will face the challenge of raising an estimated $2.5 billion as Harvard embarks on the most ambitious capital campaign in the history of higher education.

The Provost

Jerry R. Green took office as provost July 1. He is the first Harvard provost since the World War II era.

Green, an economist, will serve as second-in-command, helping Rudenstine with planning and finances across the University. The newest resident of the Mass. Hall central administration office will also try to foster academic collaboration among Harvard's ten faculties.

The Governing Boards

A few people at Harvard are technically more powerful than the president: the six mysterious Fellows of Harvard College.

The president and Fellows make up the Harvard Corporation, which is invested with ultimate control over the University by colonial charter. This board approves appointments and oversees the allotment of millions of dollars in each year's operating budget.

It's a responsibility that the Corporation takes very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that the body is best known for the secrecy permeating all of its activities.

The Corporation selects its own members for life-long terms. It publishes no minutes of its twice monthly meetings, and most of its members never speak to the press.