Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith and faculty members held a discussion with students regarding the next Dean of the College in Pforzheimer House.

Just three students were in attendance on Thursday evening as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michael D. Smith and five members of the faculty search committee for the new Dean of Harvard College led an open and ranging discussion on the search in Pforzheimer House.

Despite the surprisingly low turnout—about 25 students attended last week’s dean search forum in Lowell House—the event featured an inclusive discussion on topics ranging from the role of the search committee to the ideal background of the new dean.

A topic of interest throughout the evening was what role students and the 21-member faculty committee would play in the search process. Ultimately, Smith will decided the appointment in consultation with University President Drew G. Faust and the Harvard Corporation.

“Obviously we have an advisory role,” said government professor Steven R. Levitsky. “Dean Smith is ultimately going to make the decision. But he’s smart enough to know that this is a big and diverse and complex University, and he drew, very purposely, a pretty diverse group of faculty, faculty who represent a bunch of different departments, different tendencies and, in general, faculty who talk to a lot of students.”

Smith said that he planned to have finalists interview with both him and the committee, and he said that he was considering consulting a smaller group of students later in the process.

“When we get down to a small number of candidates, there are a few students we might pull to just have opinions,” Smith said. He added that the sensitive nature of deliberations might make student involvement complicated.

“As you might imagine, we’re going to do a very broad-based discussion of candidates and their plusses and minuses and that can kind of get difficult with students in the room,” he said.