The nine-member committee that will choose President Neil L. Rudenstine's successor has begun soliciting community input with a brief letter sent out to 300,000 members of the Harvard community.

Rudenstine announced last spring that he would step down from his post this June after 10 years at Harvard's helm. The search committee is not expected to make an announcement until spring.

The letter, dated August and issued by search chair and Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Robert G. Stone Jr. '45, went to all alumni of Harvard's nine schools as well as all faculty and staff.

The letter asks for "your thoughts on the personal and professional qualities it will be most important to seek in a new president, as well as your observations on any individuals you believe are deserving of serious consideration."

"We would value your observations and ideas about the state of the university--how you perceive Harvard's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the major opportunities and challenges Harvard will face in the years ahead," Stone writes.

If the process follows established precedent, the letter is the only contact most members of the Harvard community will have with the search committee, which unlike some of its counterparts at other schools does not include students or faculty in its top-secret deliberations.

Although some Harvard affiliates are always interviewed about their opinions of the University, most will not do more than exchange missives with Stone and his colleagues.

When contacted, several alumni said they were still mulling over the letter's contents and had not yet decided what their recommendations would be.