Another student asked Rudenstine what he thinks his responsibilities are in terms of interaction with the undergraduate body.

Rudenstine said the nature of universities now, which are larger and more decentralized, make close interaction with students difficult--although he says he has spent his final year in office doing things such as going to first-year study breaks.

"On average, you are not going to see a lot of any president, because you have to remember that the president is the president of the whole university," Rudenstine said.

He said responsibilities to other graduate schools as well as fundraising limit the time of almost any university president.

"Most people have no idea what the economics of higher education are," Rudenstine said. "You do have to fundraise. If we weren't raising [money], we would simply have to start cutting back on programs."

Despite the fairly substantive questions by students, there were also many light moments during the discussion, such as when one student asked him what he would have done differently during his tenure.

"I would do differently all of the mistakes I made, which were about three a day," Rudenstine joked.

And a question about Harvard's sometimes strict alcohol policy drew an unexpected response from Rudenstine.