But in the post-Capital Campaign era, the Harvard presidency may no longer be a position suited to this task. On some level, at a University whose reach is so vast and whose population so large, connecting with students—once Rudenstine’s forté—became an impossibility. The president who once had large pizza-box signs in the Yard proclaiming students’ love for him departs a College in which he is seen as remote, in which student protesters launch their anger at him, Harvard’s most visible leader.

“I think what we need is a president of Harvard College,” Gomes says.

Despite his accomplishments for undergraduate education and the College, Rudenstine was unable to completely overcome the institutional inertia of the University.

It remains to be seen if Summers can finish what Rudenstine has begun—or if the 28th president of Harvard will again see improving the College on the docket.

—Staff writer Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at shoichet@fas.harvard.edu.