Rice University President George E. Rupp, one-time dean of Harvard Divinity School, was named president of Columbia University Monday.

Rupp, a Presbyterian minister who received his doctorate in divinity from Harvard, succeeds Michael I. Sovern as leader of the financially troubled institutions. Columbia last year faced a faculty challenge against Sovern's budgetary policies.

With money tight, the Rice University president comes in with a reputation as a good fundraiser, though Henry L. King, chair of Columbia's board of trustees, said the search committee "rated that ability not as high as some of the others."

Rupp, 50, articulated a vision of university-wide cooperation for Columbia, rhetoric reminiscent of President Neil L. Rudenstine when he was initially selected by Harvard's search committee. Rupp also spoke of the importance of faculty and student diversity.

Rupp was on the intermediate list in the Harvard presidential search.

Columbia faculty members were "bowled over" by the incoming president, said Katherine S. Newman, professor of anthropology and a search committee member.

Rupp's commitment to undergraduate education and his belief in the importance of scholarship made a positive impression on professors, Newman said.

The newly named president's talk of fostering cooperation and diversity is consistent with his leadership style while at Harvard, former colleagues said yesterday.

The picture they paint is of a consensus-builder with a strong inclusive vision, which he ably built through cooperation with faculty and administration.

'Part of a Team'

"He comes across as being very forthright," said Parkman Professor of Divinity John B. Carman. "He is able to work with people and gain their confidence so they feel they're part of a team he's leading."

During Rupp's tenure at the Divinity School, barbeques, picnics and volleyball games at the dean's residence were a common occurrence, said Diana L. Eck, professor of comparative religion and Indian studies. She called Rupp a "community-builder" and praised his "combination of warmth and efficiency."

Rupp's time at the Divinity School saw a large increase in applications and student numbers, Carman said.

The dean instituted basic curriculum changes, including a requirement that candidates for Christian ministries take classes in other world religions. He was also instrumental in preserving and strengthening the Women's Studies in Religion program, Eck said.

It's Schmidt!

The announcement of Rupp's appointment, which came Monday at a press conference with Rupp and search committee members, had to be separated from a spate of false rumors and hoaxes regarding the search process.

Last Friday at a Columbia-Yale basketball game, unidentified sources distributed about 650 fake editions of the Columbia Daily Spectator proclaiming Benno C. Schmidt Jr. to be the school's new president. Schmidt stepped down as Yale president last spring.

Staff members of the Yale Daily News were considered likely sources for the joke papers. Daily News Editor-in-Chief David Leonhardt called the perpetrators "a socially maladjusted individual or group" and would not comment further.

New York television station WTNH broadcast the "news," and the New Haven Register ran an article about the selection, citing the fallacious Spectator as its source. Even the venerable New York Times considered publishing an article but refrained when reporters could get no confirmation.