Lewis is characterized as direct by almost all work with him.
"He is a very straight shooter," says President Neil L. Rudenstine. "He will say straight what's on his mind, and that may sometimes seem...blunt. But thank heavens for a bit of honesty and candor."
Theda Skocpol, professor of government and sociology, also expresses her appreciation of Lewis' directness.
"I think he's a very good dean," Skocpol says, characterizing Lewis as "straightforward and willing to talk about things." "I think the administration...does anything and everything to avoid controversy," says Skocpol, who chairs an FAS ad hoc committee on public service. "I admire Harry Lewis greatly for not falling into the pattern of leadership evasion." Student leaders mention Lewis' directness, but don't consider it quite so positive a trait. Former PBHA president Vincent Pan '95-'96 draws a distinction between being direct and being trustworthy. "I think he was blunt. I don't think he was always honest," Pan says. "I don't think being dishonest is a unique trait among Harvard administrators. He was more blunt, but he wasn't any more honest or dishonest. I appreciated his bluntness." For his part, Lewis says he is proud of whatever reputation he may have for being direct. "I do try to tell the truth, if that is what is meant by 'directness,'" Lewis says in an e-mail message. "I do not like to spend an hour talking to someone or to a group and to come out of the meeting with no one understanding any more at the end than they did at the beginning." Lewis says students may be misreading him as a result of his "decanal" title. In a course he taught this past fall, Computer Science 121: "Introduction to Formal Systems and Computation," the dean says he was surprised to discover from midterm questionnaires that students were interpreting his "good-natured banter" as malicious teasing. "Maybe I have to restrain myself a bit, though I am reluctant to become dull," Lewis writes in the e-mail. Student Assessment Rudd W. Coffey '97, the co-chair of the Undergraduate Council's Campus Life Committee, characterizes Lewis as having done "an adequate job" and says that "working with him one-on-one has always been a positive experience for me." But Coffey does not praise Lewis' overall performance. "Looking at the decisions he made,...I think he gets a failing grade," Coffey says. Read more in News
