Phase three, according to Wythes, will be the selection of a candidate.

Wythes said last week that the interviews have not yet begun to focus on one particular favorite candidate.

“We’re always talking to people,” he said, “but no serious discussions with any one person.”

Wythes said that candidates have been interviewed both with and without the knowledge that they were under consideration to be Shapiro’s successor.

Wythes would not specify what particular characteristics the search committee is seeking.

“We’re looking for someone with good character, very honest-all those good things,” he said.

Indeed, the 18-member search committee, which includes five faculty members and two undergraduate student representatives, has not divulged many details at all about the process of selecting their next president. The committee has maintained the necessity of keeping the process completely confidential and has criticized Harvard’s presidential search committee for allowing names of candidates to be leaked to the press.

“We’re not speaking to the press, unlike your search committee, which seems to have a lot of holes,” said Mark Johnston, a philosophy professor on the committee.

“Confidentiality is extremely important from the standpoint both of the institution that’s seeking a new president and anybody who is thought to be a potential candidate,” Committee Chair Robert Rawson said earlier this year. “It’s extraordinarily disruptive to be dealing with short lists when the may or may not be accurate.”

Even the standard search buzz is quieter these days, according to numerous members of the Princeton faculty.

“It’s about as tight to the chest as can be, and that’s fine with me,” Professor Theodore K. Rabb said about the search process.

Shapiro has told the committee that should they be unable to find a replacement in time for the start of the next academic year, he would be willing to stay on for another term. But Wythes said that he did not anticipate that the committee would have to make that request.

“We’re working towards a late spring date,” he said. “I have no reason to believe that we can’t do that, but President Shapiro’s been very nice about it, and if it takes a little longer, he’s more than willing to stay.”

—Joshua E. Gewolb and Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to the reporting of this article.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.