There are 400 names on the list of candidates to succeed President Neil L. Rudenstine, the chair of the search committee said at a Friday news conference.

In his only meeting with reporters since the search began, Robert G. Stone Jr. '45 said the search committee is three-fourths of the way through the first stage of the search process, which he said consists of gathering community opinion and obtaining the names of potential candidates.

Stone, who was joined at the news conference by search committee member Hanna H. Gray, said the committee has spoken with 200 people since mid-summer and hopes to visit 50 more in the coming weeks. Most of those interviewed so far are faculty members, Stone said, but the group has been meeting with students recently. (Please see related story.)

The committee members said they have received more than 1,000 letters from members of the Harvard community expressing opinions about the search.

Stone said the committee has not cut anyone from the long list of 400 names--other than two nominees who are more than 90 years old and two nominees who are dead.

Though he declined to name specific individuals, Stone said the pool of candidates who are not currently affiliated with Harvard is weaker than it was when he participated in the search that chose Rudenstine.

"I look back 10 years ago, and I don't see as many really top candidates outside Harvard as I did then," he said.

Stone said the current candidates include only a handful of people who were considered in the Rudenstine search.

This group includes one of the top contenders for Rudenstine's job: Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67, who was named as a possible Harvard president a decade ago when he was dean of the School of Public Health.

Stone and Gray said there are women and minorities on the list of 400, but that women constitute less than half of the potential candidates. They said the candidates vary greatly in age and academic experience.

"The people on the list represent just about every occupation, background and state of activity within the academic world that you can imagine," Gray said.

Gray refused to say whether President Clinton or First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are on the list, as has been widely speculated, but said the committee is looking for candidates with "academic background" and invited reporters to draw their own conclusions.

Intellectual Distinction

In discussing the qualities the committee is looking for in a new president, Stone emphasized the importance of familiarity with the sciences.

"He certainly has to have--he or she--a science background or, enough of a background in science, to know how important it is to really push forward in that area," Stone said.

Stone said that with Harvard's resolve to keep the size of its student body the same in the coming years, the greatest growth pressure on the University will be in expanding research space for the sciences.