CORRECTION APPENDED

The student advisory group to the Harvard presidential search committee made its final report public yesterday, following a meeting the group had with University President-elect Drew G. Faust on Monday.

In addition to outlining the qualities that students sought in a University President, the 106-page report also detailed University-wide and school-specific issues that students hope to see addressed under the new president’s administration.

The recommendations of the 14-member advisory group, created by the nine-person Search Committee last May, are drawn from their discussions with students and a university-wide student survey.

ENGAGING THE PRESIDENT

While the search committee received the report in December, its public release was intentionally held until the advisory group met with Faust. Chair of the advisory group Matthew J. Murray said in December that the group’s meeting with Faust would be more “constructive and useful” if it was held before “sound bites in the media” could influence their discussion.

Faust was “engaged” throughout her meeting with the advisory group, according to College representative Vivek G. Ramaswamy ’07. “She was really interested to hear about the things that could improve the student experience in an expansive way,” Ramaswamy said.

“Given that she listened very intently at the meeting, I think she’ll give very close attention to the issues that we raised at the meeting,” he added.

According to the advisory group’s report, undergraduates wanted “a new
president with similar ideas and agency to [former] President Summers, but with only a slightly more developed sense of charisma and persuasiveness.”

When asked about the similarities between Faust and Summers, Ramaswamy said that there was “no way of answering this question until President[-elect] Faust takes over as president.”

“Actions are what ultimately hold the answer to this question,” he said.

WHAT STUDENTS WANT

The report’s conclusions are largely based on the results of a survey­ administered by the advisory group in October.  The survey was open to all Harvard students and elicited 2,581 responses.

Despite the considerable differences between Harvard’s graduate and professional schools and the undergraduate College, a number of University-wide themes emerged.

These included increased engagement between schools, improvements in teaching, advising, and curricula, increased faculty and administrative diversity, improvements in financial aid (particularly for graduate students entering low-paying public service careers), and more equal distribution of University finances across schools.

The College representatives of the advisory group listed greater prioritization of undergraduate interests in University decisions, improvements in faculty-student interactions and academic support provided to students, and increased diversity—particularly within the College and residential administrations, as areas of improvement for the incoming President to consider.

The College members of the advisory group also met with Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 earlier this semester. to discuss the results of the report, according to Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy said that Gross shared “a lot of agreement about student sentiment” with the College representatives.

However, he added that Gross disagreed with the report’s determination that “the College must make significant steps to increase the level of ethnic diversity seen in the College Deans, House Masters and Allston Burr Resident Deans.” [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

“The deans at the College, as well as the House Masters, come from a wide variety of racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds,” Gross wrote in an e-mailed statement to The Crimson.

Advisory chair Murray said he hoped that the advisory group—its creation a first in Harvard’s history of presidential searches—would encourage the University to continue to engage students in its decision-making processes.

“Harvard is a very decentralized university, and I think there are opportunities for student engagement in central decision-making,” he said.

 “I hope the University follows up and pursues those opportunities,” he added.

—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, the April 11 news article “ ‘Engaged’ Faust Meets With Student Leaders” incorrectly attributed remarks to Vivek G. Ramaswamy ’07. Ramaswamy said only that Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 shared “a lot of agreement about student sentiment” with students on the student advisory committee to the presidential search. Ramaswamy did not say that Gross disagreed with the report’s suggestion that the College increase diversity within its ranks. Gross expressed his disagreement in a separate statement to The Crimson, while adding that he agreed with “98%” of the report’s findings.