As word began to emerge that President Neil L. Rudenstine will resign next year, undergraduate leaders shrugged off the news--perhaps a testament to the understated role that the University president plays in the lives of College students.

"He's obviously been focused on the University as a whole, but undergraduates will probably feel his absence more when he's no longer in Massachusetts Hall," said Sterling P.A. Darling '01, a member of the Undergraduate Council.

As Harvard's President, Rudenstine has final say on Faculty appointments--and was responsible for the recent increase in the number of junior faculty positions--as well as, say some, a lack of women in the ranks of the senior faculty.

Rudenstine was the arbiter of Radcliffe's merger with the College, which earned him criticism from some campus progressives.

But his public pronouncements on diversity--and his vocal lobbying in favor of affirmative action--have won him praise.

Rudenstine worked, for example, to bolster the reputation and resources of Harvard's Department of Afro-American studies.

"He really has a heart for diversity in the College," said Undergraduate Council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01.

Most recently, Rudenstine has found himself embroiled in student and city protests over a living wage.

He has refused to capitulate to demands that Harvard pay all of its workers a wage of at least $10.25 an hour, though he has agreed in principle to extend health and education benefits to nearly every University employee.

Aaron D. Bartley, an organizer for the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM), said living wage activists had created a "level of discomfort" for University administrators in recent months.

He said he hopes the next president "will do more."

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, Rudenstine's most important contribution to the lives of undergraduates was the massive increase in financial aid awards announced last year--an average of $2000 more for each recipient.

"The most important thing presidents do have a longer term impact," Lewis said.

The big complaint of students with regard to Rudenstine is his availability. Many only see him once--during the annual barbecue for first-years during orientation week or at the President's Ball in Annenberg.

"I never really interacted with him at all," said M. Rachael Lovett '03. "I don't think this will affect me that much."

According to John B. Fox '59, the Secretary of the Faculty, that distance is a function of the job, and not a function of the person who holds it.

"Students don't see much of the president," Fox agreed. But, he said, "I think Neil has been extraordinarily available," he said.

Rudenstine did not attend Harvard as an undergraduate--but he spent years here as a graduate student in English.

At a dinner Friday night with all House Masters and senior tutors, Lewis said Rudenstine spoke fondly of his time as a student.

"He reminisced about the intellectual and human connection he felt to the community. He was very eloquent about how important his Adams house experience was," Lewis said.