This expansion of the number of deans in his office extended the reach of Lewis’ grip over undergraduates’ lives.

Master of the House(s)

Lewis—whom some describe as a “control freak”—positioned himself as the central figure in the uniform Housing system he had created by randomizing first-year housing assignments.

When he arrived, several House masters had held their positions for over 20 years, dictating the tone of their Houses like lords of fiefdoms within the College.

Within a few years, several of the long-serving House masters resigned, leaving Lewis free to bring in new blood.

And unlike Jewett before him, Lewis has took an active hand in selecting masters, enforcing their five-year renewable contracts.

With the departures of three current House masters at the end of this year, Lewis will have appointed masters in 11 out of 12 Houses—giving him excessive control over House life in the eyes of some senior tutors and masters.

“I would worry about too much power being concentrated in one person and one office,” former Quincy House Master Michael Shinagel said last June.

While Jewett left the job of appointing senior tutors to the masters, Lewis has personally supervised the appointments of senior tutors, insisting that they be teaching Faculty members and systematically reviewing their performances.

“We have a steady stream of visitors from other universities, and they are all struck by how much Harry knows about what’s going on in the Houses,” Associate Dean of the College Thomas A. Dingman ’67, who is in charge of the House system, said last spring.

If Kirby is successful in merging into the deanship the responsibility of overseeing undergraduate education, such a hands-on approach to overseeing students’ lives might be difficult.

A Battle of Heart

Lewis has not always garnered—or sought—the approval of students. He came into this job with a concept of what was best for students that he doggedly pursued over the past eight years, often in the face of staunch opposition.

From the 200-person rally over his randomization plan that took place even before he took office, to the 750-person protest over PBHA, to the backlash against the new sexual assault policy he pushed through last May, Lewis’ reforms have often met with harsh disapproval from students.

“I think he started his deanship at a time when there were a lot of hot potatoes,” said Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology Theda Skocpol in January 2001. “It may be that students hadn’t already built up a relationship [with Lewis] before contentious issue arose.”