While glossing over Blackmun's criticism in his report, Rudenstine said in the interview that such cynicism is unfounded.
"If you look at what we're doing, you'll see that the numbers bounce up and down from year to year," he said. "We don't have any certain number of spots for anyone."
Rudenstine also rebutted other challenges to affirmative action, including the charge that affirmative action penalizes white applicants and stigmatizes minorities.
The president wrote that those objections stem from a misunderstanding of the process and the rationale behind it.
He maintains that the merits of diversity outweigh any potential drawbacks because diversity is essential in helping individuals mature.
Impact on Harvard
Rudenstine's report did not include substantial commentary on how diversity functions in day-to-day life at the University.
Diversity in Harvard's upper-class houses has become one of the most important points in the debate over randomization of the housing lottery. But Rudenstine said in the interview that he did not tackle the issue because randomization was not on the table when he began writing his report 18 months ago.
The decision to randomize the houses was made last May; a report on the structure of the College recommending the change was released in August 1994.
In the interview, Rudenstine did not explicitly state his views on randomization but indirectly indicated his support for the changes.
For example, he said that the idea of a residential campus which forces students to live and work together leads to the necessary balance between individual diversity and campus unity.
"The students are here to learn from each other, and the structures are all open--all students live together, eat together and sit in class together," Rudenstine said on Friday. "The structure, symbolism and message of the institution is that we all ought to get to know one another."
Benjamin R. Kaplan contributed to the reporting of this story.