Personal Contact

Tensions between faculty members and the administration flared in October over the faculty's exclusion from the benefits task force. That group released a report last month detailing sweeping changes to the University's fringe benefits package.

In some ways, the fight with the faculty--and to some degree, most of the University--over benefits is a fitting analogy for the weak point of Rudenstine's leadership style, a dislike of delegation.

An article in yesterday's New York Times blames Rudenstine's "illness" on his tremendous worklo88ad and the stress of a decentralized government.

"A corporate executive would be stunned by the lack of support," University Treasurer D. Ronald Daniel told the Times. "University presidents have fewer people, fewer resources, more pressure and a lot of work to do."

But Rudenstine's apparent desire to be involved in all aspects of a given decision seems to have been the factor that pushed him from merely tired to utterly exhausted.

When Rudenstine appointed Green, the president indicated that the provost's primary responsibility would be to focus on areas such as the capital campaign, benefits review and academic planning. These were items the president did not wish to micromanage.

But Rudenstine was involved in the review process every step of the way. Instead of concentrating on faculty concerns, however, he immersed himself in the numbers, according to sources.

Green's resignation and departure from the benefits task force made the situation even worse. Rudenstine was left with a vacuum, and he filled it with even more time and energy.

The president presented the benefits package to the Faculty himself. Neither Green nor Vice President for Administration Sally H. Zeckhauser, the departed provost's successor as chair of the task force, attended.

Ironically, though, Rudenstine's fascination with details seems to have left him isolated from those the details ultimately affect.

Last month, a report commissioned by Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles confirmed that the president's benefits review had lost contact with the Faculty.

"It seems as though we were being treated more as employees of a business than members of a community," McKay Professor of Computer Science Barbara J. Grosz complained at an October faculty meeting.

As the Faculty bombarded him with criticism at November's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) meeting, Rudenstine took full responsibility and shook his head dejectedly.

Ghosts of Decisions Past