Three students had an instrumental role in the selection of Shirley M. Tilghman as president of Princeton University last year.

For more than 25 years, students have had full votes on Yale University’s disciplinary board.

And student council presidents at Swarthmore sit in at meetings of the college’s highest governing body.

But a Harvard acceptance letter does not bring with it the same degree of entry into the University’s decision-making committees.

Compared to many of Harvard’s peer schools, students at the College simply have less of a chance to sit alongside the highest ranks of professors and administrators as they decide the University’s future.

Searching for a Say

During the announcement of University President Lawrence H. Summers’ selection last spring, a group of students stood outside Loeb House protesting what they called the secretive search process by which Summers had been selected.

But at schools such as Yale, Princeton and Swarthmore students regularly sit on search committees for administrators.

Three students sat on Princeton’s presidential search committee last year.

One undergraduate and one graduate student were selected because they served on student government and the third student was selected from a pool of about 100 applicants who submitted essays.

“The administration made an effort to contact us about what we wanted to see in a president. Students were very excited to be involved in the selection process,” says Princeton Undergraduate Student Government representative Michael Kimberly.

But Harvard has been more reluctant to involve students in the formal committees that select high-ranking administrators.

No students were on the search committee that selected Summers. And while Undergraduate Council members applauded Summers for inviting a student committee to submit a report with their wishes for the new Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) dean this spring, they questioned to what extent their suggestions would be taken into account.

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68, students at Harvard are slowly becoming more involved in the University’s decision-making through searches for House Masters and tutors.

Lewis says he has found the student voice particularly helpful in search committees.