Late in the year, a new name appeared on the committee's radar screen. Amy Gutmann `71, a respected Princeton professor, former dean of the faculty and founder of that university's Center for Human Values was a young, incredibly accomplished woman, She struck the committee as a revolutionary choice. Her work on ethics and human values had impacted undergraduates, and she had begun a series of freshman seminars similar to the program at Harvard that the committee thought warranted expansion.

"She's constantly thinking and looking at contemporary problems and how to bring the university to bear on those issues," her colleague David Wilkins explained. And thus, on January 23, Gutmann arrived for a one-night stay in New York to meet with the committee.

As the search progressed, Fineberg—once seen by the committee as the early leader—began to look less and less like a shoo-in. He had arrived at Harvard in 1967 and barely left since. Fineberg possessed a master’s degree, a medical degree and a Ph.D—all from Harvard. A former dean of the school of public health and now the number two at the University, he wasn’t the "outside the box" choice the committee wanted. Plus, over the course of Fineberg's long history at Harvard, he had attracted his share of internal enemies. The Harvard Alumni Association, for example, objected that Fineberg was a micro-manager. Nevertheless, as the strongest internal candidate, Fineberg had staying power.

Through December and January the names fell off the list one by one.

"We were moving ever more quickly to the ultimately successful person," a committee member said.

At times though, the committee felt like it was blowing through the short list too quickly. At one point around New Year's, the committee spent part of a meeting discussing the idea of an interim president, a "placeholder" who would hold the job until the "perfect" president came along—much like what Gray had done for Yale years ago. In the end, though as the list narrowed to the final five, then four, then three, the committee became satisfied with the available pool.

On Feb. 4, the Board of Overseers convened in Lamont Library to hear a presentation on a new interdisciplinary degree program. Shortly before lunch, they filed the short distance to Loeb House for another event: an update on the presidential search. Now Stone and the rest of the committee had nine names to present. Fineberg, Bollinger, Sullivan, Summers, Gutmann, and four others. The next day, committee members crossed the river and met with Clark in his business school office, breaking the news to him that he was no longer under consideration for the top job.