As dean, he also made an unprecedented effort to ensure that the University hired minority workers, insisting on equitable policies and making his own spot checks of construction sites to make sure the new regulations were enforced.

As an academic, Bok, who was both a former Fullbright scholar and editor of the Harvard Law Review, authored numerous books and articles.

Although Bok was not necessarily beloved by every student at the Law School, he was universally respected as a capable diplomat and a man who could affect change quickly.

Students welcomed Bok to the Law School two years before, seeing him as the man to "usher the Law School into the '70s." Despite some dissatisfaction with the pace of change, most praised him for making important reforms.

Some more radical students criticized Bok for waffling on decisions, but even they respected his stance against the Vietnam War.

Cox, the former Williston Professor of Law who worked closely with the Pusey administration during the campus unrest in the late 1960s, said in an interview last week that Bok had proven skilled in dealing with activist Law School students, a skill demonstrated by the comparatively smooth relations between the Law School and its students.

In 1969, law students held a "study-in" at the Law School's library to protest its grading policy. Bok was called at 12:30 a.m. and was informed of the crisis. Rather than ignoring the incident or breaking up the protest, Bok went to talk to the protesters.

He ordered coffee and donuts, walked into the library, stood on a table and said, "I want to thank you all for coming here to show your concern about the Law School."

However, according to Cox, in the end, Bok's demonstrated administrative capabilities and his long-term vision for the University probably played a larger role in his selection.

While the University was then embroiled in conflict, Cox said the Corporation probably assumed that the fever-pitch of activism would pass and that there would be more important challenges ahead for Harvard.

Aside from what he brought to the job, Bok was also important for what he did not bring--a lot of baggage. His anonymity seems to have been viewed by the search committee not as a lack of stature but as an asset.

The Boston Herald reported the morning after Bok was named president: "If there are a lot of people across the land today wondering about the identity of Derek C. Bok, the Corporation and the Board of Overseers should not be offended. Chances are, it was planned that way. They no doubt were looking for someone who antagonizes the fewest of the polarized campus groupings."

The Reaction

Even after the announcement, Bok was not uniformly positive about his new role.

"I'm really happy in the work I'm doing now. If I really wanted to get out, I suppose I'd be on tenterhooks," he said.