The Four Horsemen And the Apocalypse

When Derek Bok became president of Harvard in 1971, he quickly tried to establish a decentralized bureaucratic system of leadership. The University was already deeply fragmented into autonomous faculties and departments. But Bok created another layer; he erected a wall of people to take care of Harvard's time-consuming administrative and functional details. While there were only a few special assistants to protect former president Nathan M. Pusey '28 from the bureaucratic flood, Bok created four vice-presidents, a general counsel, and an expanded team of special assistants to handle his administrative chores. At the time of his inaugural, Bok said he wanted to fill all those new positions rapidly and then pay attention to educational concerns.

The first two years, however, saw a wall with cement that simply wouldn't dry. His desire to be a full-time educational leader had to be put aside as appointment processes dragged on. And as late as the end of his third year, because the University was unable to escape the serious financial crisis that struck at educational institutions nationwide, Bok had to spend much of his time preaching fiscal responsibility to faculty and administration.

Last year, though, things settled down and the educator finally surfaced. He addressed important questions in graduate education, especially those in his favorite area of study, public policy. In his annual report he presented a comprehensive list of suggestions for educating "officials in the public sector," or government bureaucrats. Although the report was nothing revolutionary, it was a break from the unimaginative educational pronouncements that he had given us before.

But now, after Bok finally has the chance to establish himself as the dominant educational leader on campus, as were his predecessors before Pusey, his protective wall is starting to crumble. Recent announcements of future resignations by faculty deans and the likely departure of at least one of his four vice presidents, plus a host of lesser changes, threaten to force Bok back into his managerial role.

Appointing new faculty deans is an important function of any university president. But because Harvard is so decentralized, appointment power takes on new significance. Once appointed, a dean at Harvard has almost ultimate control over the personnel and policy of his school. This year Bok is faced with the appointment of new deans to the Schools of Medicine and Government. Bok says he will have to work "particularly hard" on filling both positions. He adds, "This is a time-consuming process that involves reading a great deal of background material about the schools, studying written comments from many people and talking extensively with a number of faculty members and other knowledgeable individuals."

When Stephen S.J. Hall, vice president for administration, and Charles U. Daly, vice president for government and community affairs, joined the University administration in 1971, they made it clear to Bok that they expected to stay no longer than five years. They said they were strong believers in turnover--and very much against the pseudo-tenure that tends to develop when university administrators linger in one place too long. Meanwhile, Bok has consciously let his vice presidents grow from controllable arms to autonomous bodies. As he said about the vice presidents:

I do try to keep informed about what they're doing and I do make sure that I am informed when significant decisions are being made or when important things happen affecting their operation, but my day-to-day involvement now that they are well-established has diminished to a significant extent.

It will be five years here for both Daly and Hall in August of this year--and one of them, Hall, has already made it clear he probably won't be around after the term. Bok will not be caught off-guard by Hall's official resignation. He said last week he always knew that Hall would wind up working in industry. Nevertheless, the problems a departing Hall pose for Bok are great. Besides being burdened with one more additional administrative search, Bok may have to increase his day-to-day involvement with the most anti-educational facet of the University until Hall's replacement learns the ex-Sheraton-vice-president's complicated system. That doesn't mean we can expect to see Bok down in the Science Center basement, wrench in hand, toying with the Delta 2000 computer. But Bok may be forced to pay closer attention to the administrative details of the University for longer than he'd like.

Daly's plans are more of a mystery than Hall's. But despite intricate denials, it isn't likely that he'll be Harvard's vice president for government and community affairs next fall. Daly has assured Bok that he will remain as vice president through the current academic year, but he hasn't given any assurance beyond that, other than to agree to a relatively long-term relationship with Harvard.

There is good reason to believe that Daly may undergo a title change this summer. Since his days as Congressional liason in the Kennedy White House, Daly would have you believe that he has had a hand in every important decision that the Democratic Party has made. Now, with a race among so many Democrats and a White House that seems destined for one of them, Daly may want to take some time off to help facilitate an orderly Democratic victory. "You might well see me at the convention," he says. He explains that a change in titles may be necessary because it is difficult for a man in his current position, as an officer of Harvard, to support political candidates. But Daly insists that even if it weren't a presidential year, he probably would not stay at his current Harvard post for a very long time. He says that any switch in relationships would be rooted, not in Washington affairs, but in his pro-turnover philosophy.

The loss of Daly will not mean much for Bok's town-gown relations. It wasn't until Daly had his back to the wall on the Kennedy Library issue that he started showing Cambridge the honest and aggressive style he should have used from the start. But his role in government affairs is crucial for Harvard and for Bok personally. In an era of heavy cutbacks in federal funds for education, there are few people more valuable to a university than Daly. Harvard may not "own" congressmen as U.S. big businesses do, but with Daly's connections the University comes pretty close to it.

"Harvard did nothing in the area of federal regulation--absolutely nothing," Bok says about the time before Daly came to the University. And because Bok claims that the government is both "massively involved" with universities and "enormously fragmented," it is very important for higher education that the government agencies understand how universities work. The quality of decisions they make is not dependent entirely on their judgment, Bok says. It is "critically dependent on the information these agencies receive." Daly is most important to the administration, Bok says, because he has an understanding of the informational processes within the government. In less jargonish terms, that means Daly can simply pick up the phone and immediately get through to people like the influential Rep. Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (D.-Mass.) and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D.-Mass.) to explain the impact of a manpower bill on medical schools or the effect of sex-blind admissions, affirmative action, or tax-reform legislation on university structures.

As for the impact of Daly's decision on Bok himself, the president notes that in the future he will "be working actively in the field of federal government relations"--clearly Daly's specialty. Both his soon-to-be-released annual report, and a forthcoming speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will be dedicated to the subject. He says he is currently chairing a committee of the Association of American Universities "to consider how it may be organized to play a more effective role in federal relations." If Daly pursues his political ambitions, then it is questionable whether he can help Bok on these matters to the extent that he has in the past.

Bok's other two vice presidents, Dr. Chase N. Peterson '52, vice president for alumni affairs and development, and financial vice president Hale Champion are not as ripe for turnover as Daly and Hall. "I don't suppose I'll be here when I retire, but that may happen," Champion said last week. But, he adds, if the "appropriate" kind of appointment would arise in a Democratic White House, he would consider taking it. One source within the administration says this about Champion: "Hale is very interested in politics and the art of government. If there is a Democratic administration in 1977, he is likely to be a part of it."

Filling deanships and vice presidencies isn't all that Bok will be concerned about, however. Bok says he "will be working with Henry Rosovsky, dean of the Faculty, on several appointments" including a new dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics and new masters for Mather and North House. Bok also claims a personal interest in the selection of a new director of Buildings and Grounds. He says he is "not satisfied that we are providing service as efficiently and economically as possible" in that department.

What will be the impact on education at Harvard if Bok must revert to a purely administrative style of leadership in his fifth year here? If anything, Bok's burdens will serve to heighten Rosovsky's role in formulating educational change within the University. Instead of playing an active role in Rosovsky's task force review of undergraduate education, Bok may have to take a backseat in planning the future of Harvard-Radcliffe. Perhaps the most important consequence, however, is the toll all that administrative work will take on Bok's perceived role as the leader of the University. Possibly because he had just finished constructing that wall to cushion him from bureaucratic hassles, he has never had the time to establish himself as the forceful or recognizable educational figure within the University. The crush of personnel changes may once again stifle his educational leadership role. Or worse for Bok, someone else within the University, possibly Rosovsky, may grow tired of waiting for the president to emerge as the educator that others look to for guidance, and claim that role for himself.