"There are controversies all the time and I've always tried to address every one of these issues by pulling them back to `What is our educational mission here?'" Lewis says.
Lewis is the only one of seven deans of the College since the 1940s to also be a professional academic--the other was dean-professor May, who is now Warren Professor of American History.
Administrators say Lewis' professorial background makes it easier for him to interact with professors and students.
"He has a closer, grittier sense of what students' life is like as a consequence," Maull says.
"But while Lewis says his educational framework places value on activities that take place outside the classroom, he has not always seen eye-to-eye with students on the importance of social activity and quality-of-life concerns.
For example, while Epps and the undergraduate Council championed the idea of a new student center, Lewis committed to satisfying groups' office space by finding space in existing building--a proposal which would provide office space to extracurricular groups but offer little social space.
"If Dean Epps ran the show--Dean Lewis would probably laugh at this, but--we might have a student center," Seton says.
And while Seton says Lewis is responsive to the council, he added that when he doesn't see eye-to-eye with the group, their proposals have little chance of success.
"His position certainly has an impact on the things that the council wants to do that need administrative approval," Seton says.
"If he's working on advising and we're working on it, then we're in an advantaged position," he explains. "On the other side, when we want a student center and he's not interested, that puts us in a disadvantaged position."
Unfinished Business
Subtle influence aside, the priorities high on Lewis' agenda nowadays are unlikely to match the controversy of his earlier term.
He says improving Harvard's advising system, changing the role of women in the College, greater support for extracurriculars and the "good functioning of the Houses" are four of his most important concerns.
"I do think that issues relating to the ways students and faculty interact are going to take a longer time to improve," Lewis added in an e-mail message.
These issues may also prove more intractable.
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