Freedman says he believes a quota limiting Jewish students was still in effect when he was admitted to Harvard in the 1950s.

But with the end to structural anti-Semitism in the 1960s, Freedman says Jews began to flourish in top levels of academia and were well-placed to move into top positions a couple of decades later.

Yet Jews were not completely comfortable with their success.

Henry Rosovsky, former dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, was offered the presidency at Yale in 1977, but turned it down.

“I represented bitter medicine to them,” Rosovsky has been quoted as saying. “I was a Jew. In style and appearance I wasn’t their kind of guy.”

In 2001, however, there are no such concerns.

Indeed, rather than viewing Summers’ presidency as proof of how far Jews at Harvard have come, Bok says Summers’ appointment should almost have been expected.

“There are an awful lot of extremely talented people of Jewish faith in academia and, you know, it would be odd if we did not have a Jewish president,” Bok said.

“I don’t see it as earth-shaking,” says Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals and minister in Memorial Church. “Harvard is a very traditional place, and it looks to its traditional constituents. The Jewish community at Harvard is a phenomenon of the mid-20th century.”

But for some, at least, Summers’ installation represents history in the making.

“I’d like to think that this is in some ways a step in the right direction not only for Harvard, but also for higher education,” Reiner said.

—Staff writer Juliet J. Chung can be reached at jchung@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer David C. Newman can be reached at dnewman@fas.harvard.edu.