It is the rare undergraduate who truly cares about the powers that run this colossus of higher education. Stiff-necked bureaucratic types, after all, have little to say about whether you have a keg party in the Yard or spend your Saturday nights doing homework.
Consequently, few students--or Faculty members, for that matter--hear much about what goes on in the depths of Massachusetts and University Halls.
The President
Neil L. Rudenstine has just completed his eighth year as the 26th president of Harvard University.
Mid-sized, skinny and affable to the point of goofiness, Rudenstine is hardly the imposing figure one might expect from a giant in American higher education.
Although he holds office hours about once per month, he rarely steps into College affairs, preferring to allow underlings to handle all crises and many long-term matters, from murder-suicides to protests to public service reform.
As a result of this hands-off style, Rudenstine sometimes comes across as being too insular with respect to undergraduates. For example, three years ago as the College buzzed about the first-ever, campus-wide elections of the Undergraduate Council's president and vice president, Rudenstine was oblivious to the sea of colorful campaign posters visible from his office window--he had no idea the elections were happening.
Rudenstine's defenders say his burdens as president are too daunting for him to meddle in College affairs, and they may have a point.
Rudenstine has worked tirelessly almost from the day he took office to lead Harvard's $2.1 billion capital campaign, the largest fundraising drive in the history of higher education. With the campaign nearly complete, Rudenstine has proven he is an adept fundraiser--if not a visionary.
As president, Rudenstine also approves tenure decisions for all nine of Harvard's faculties, oversees the activities of upper-level bureaucrats and shapes the University's long-term direction and policies.
Provost
As second-in-command in Mass. Hall, Harvey V. Fineberg '67 is something of a "shadow president," serving as Rudenstine's top adviser and overseeing a potpourri of projects from information technology to the central administration's finances. The provost is also responsible for fostering academic collaboration among Harvard's nine faculties--a task easier said than done.
Fineberg, Rudenstine's third provost in eight year, is also mid-sized, skinny and professorial to the point of goofiness.
His involvement in undergraduate life is minimal, nor will you hear much from him on other fronts either. He rarely speaks out on College matters and is a strict party-liner on other issues of public interest.
Governing Boards
A few people at Harvard are technically more powerful than the president: the six mysterious Fellows of Harvard College.
The president and Fellows make up the Harvard Corporation, which is invested with ultimate control over the University by colonial charter. This board approves appointments and oversees the allotment of millions of dollars in each year's operating budget.
It's a responsibility that the Corporation takes very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that the body is best known for the secrecy permeating all of its activities. The Corporation selects its own members for life-long terms. It publishes no minutes of its meetings and most of its members never speak to the press.
The senior fellow is Robert G. Stone Jr. '45, the chair and CEO of the Kirby Corporation. Legend has it that until recently, Stone had not spoken to an undergraduate since his own days at Harvard.
More open, but far less powerful, is the Board of Overseers, the University's secondary governing board. Elected each year by alums to serve six-year terms, the overseers meet to form committees, approve appointments, form committees and discuss issues.
The board tends to attract some of Harvard's more famous graduates. The board's membership over the last three years has included actor John A. Lithgow '67, author Michael Crichton '64, possible Republican presidential candidate Elizabeth H. Dole and Vice President Al Gore '69.
The Vice Presidents
Overseeing the University's non-academic bureaucracy are Harvard's five vice presidents.
The most visible of the five is usually the vice president for government and public affairs. Currently Paul S. Grogan, he oversees Harvard's lobbying efforts in Washington and Boston, its interaction with the City of Cambridge and its Office of Public Affairs.
Anne H. Taylor, a longtime litigator for Harvard, serves as the University's vice president and general counsel. Her charges include Harvard's stable of nearly a dozen in-house attorneys as well as the University's police department.
Thomas M. Reardon, vice president for development and alumni affairs, is responsible for raising money and keeping graduates happy. Reardon was formerly director of Harvard's office of development.
Elizabeth C. "Beppie" Huidekoper serves as the vice president for finance. In addition to having a nickname that makes her one of the three dwarfs of the central administration (Merry Touborg and Happy Green being the others), Huidekoper helps oversee the millions of dollars that flow into and out of Harvard each year.
The most senior member of the Harvard central administration--and the only vice president who preceded the Rudenstine era--is Vice President for Administration Nancy "Sally" H. Zeckhauser. Zeckhauser is responsible for the bulk of the University's massive bureaucracy, including Harvard Planning and Real Estate, Harvard Dining Services, Facilities Maintenance and Human Resources.
The Faculty
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) administration is one bureaucratic layer closer to the undergraduates, but don't expect to spend too many Thursdays sipping tea with the denizens of University Hall's top floors.
FAS is the biggest and wealthiest of Harvard's nine faculties. It includes everything from Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to Widener Jeremy R. Knowles has served as dean of theFaculty since 1991. In that time, Knowles hasbrought a flair to his task of dealing with abudget crunch and building the ranks of thefaculty. Knowles gets involved when there is a crisis inthe College, though he often seems uncomfortableabout it. The dean can also affect undergraduatesby setting academic policy in his work with theassociate dean for undergraduates education. That deanship was recently in a bit of a flux.Last year, William M. Todd III replaced DavidPilbeam, who had only served a year team. Todd'sselection was something of a surprise to mostobservers, as he had no experience in UniversityHall and had never even met many of his futurecolleagues, including Dean of the College Harry R.Lewis '68. The College It takes a while to get down to the level ofaccessible administrators. And by the time youreach it, you're far away from the so-calledpowers that be. Harvard's lesser deans are in charge of makingsure your quality of life is acceptable. TheCollege deals with mundane undergraduate concernssuch as discipline and housing. At the top is Dean of the College Harry R.Lewis `68, entering his fifth year on the job.Lewis has proven that he is not afraid to makeunpopular decisions--like randomization andtighter alcohol policies--but this boldness,coupled with a penchant for sticking his foot inhis mouth, have not won the dean many friendsamong students. Lewis sits at the heard of the 25-memberAdministrative Board, which disciplinesundergraduates guilty of "conduct unbecoming of aHarvard student." You don't want your firstencounter with Lewis to take place at an Ad Boardhearing. Yardlings are led by Dean of Freshman ElizabethStudley Nathans. The former Duke Universityassociate dean has begun efforts to reformorientation week and first-year advising so thatstudents take better advantage of the resourcesavailable. Radcliffe Radcliffe has undergone significant changesover the past year. The former college originally provided femaleundergraduates with housing supervision and accessto a Harvard education. But when the two collegesconducted their "non-merger merger" in 1973,Radcliffe relinquished its responsibility forundergraduate life. In April, after months of guarded negotiations,Radcliffe and Harvard announced their intent tomerge. As a result, Radcliffe will officiallyrelinquish its "college" status sometime thissummer to become the Radcliffe Institute forAdvanced Study, a division of the University onpar with the nine faculties.
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