Jewett: Harvard Man As College Dean

In 1953 Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 arrived on the campus as a frightened freshman. Since then--except for a couple of years abroad--he has not left.

Since his first days at Harvard when he was just one of a 1000 scared freshmen, Jewett has risen from student to dean of the College, holding the positions of proctor, senior adviser, assistant dean of freshmen, director of freshmen scholarships and dean of admissions en route.

"I enjoyed work at the University so much that I never left," Jewett says.

His long continuous association with Harvard and his 29 years of administrative experience have combined with Jewett's gregarious personality to make the relaxed dean one of Harvard's most successful and accessible administrators, students and colleagues say.

In his first year and a half as dean, Jewett,the top administrator in the College, hasundertaken major revisions of the alcohol policyand disciplinary system, and is currently involvedwith finding solutions for the problems ofminority students and overcrowding in the houses.

As chairman of a host of student and facultycommittees including the Committee on House Life(COHL), the Committee on College Life (CCL) andthe Administrative Board, Jewett has won kudosfrom faculty, administrators and students alike.

"Both with the Ad Board and with students, heis extremely interested in talking to students andmaking the College more receptive to students,"says Adams House Senior Tutor Marshall Hyatt, whosits on the Ad Board.

"He gives one a sense that he is trying tolearn from your experience," says Dean of StudentsArchie C. Epps III, who has seen five deans of theCollege come and go and serves on a variety ofcommittees with Jewett including the CCL and thenewly founded committee on racial harassment.

The dean, who has a habit of leaning back inhis chair and putting his feet up during meetings,also garners praise for his ability to run a wellorganized committee and to pull together aconsensus.

"I think it's terrific how he has been able todevelop a consensus and has brought people intothe decision-making process," says Assistant Deanfor the House System Thomas A. Dingman '67, whoserves on the COHL and the Ad Board with Jewett.

Although his predecessor as dean of theCollege, John B. Fox Jr. '59, drew fire from somehouse masters for his aloof attitude, many of thesame critics say that Jewett has done an excellentjob of soothing a troubled situation.

"I have been very hard on deans in the past andI withheld my judgement about Fred on how well hewould be able to take over a situation that wasquite bad. The relationship between the housemasters and the dean of the College [Fox] was nothealthy," says Lowell House Master William H.Bossert. "But I can't fault Fred on any majoraction, [although] we have disagreed."

"If I had any reservations about Fred I wouldstate them, but I don't," Bossert adds.

"He's an unusually good administrator," saysNorth House Master J. Woodland Hastings."Decisions are now made much more smoothly."

While Jewett may be good at making decisions,he says that he has little control over the issuesthat he addresses. "It's not a job where one cantotally control what one does. The agenda to somedegree is determined by the problems that arise,"he says.

But college officials and students alike praiseJewett, whose first name is Lester, for hiswillingness to tackle difficult problems and hisability to find equitable solutions to them.

"It's easy to talk and listen to him," saysWinthrop House Co-Master Martha H. Davis. "Youfeel that he wants to solve the problem and notmanipulate anyone."

"Dean Jewett gets to the heart of the matterquite quickly and very efficiently," saysUndergraduate Council Chairman Richard S. Eisert'88.

Again, people say, Jewett's implicitunderstanding of human nature aids himimmeasurably in his job. "He understands thateveryone has to move a little, and he expectsother people to also," says Dunster House SeniorTutor Jeffery Wolcowitz.

While students and faculty may not necessarilyagree on what stance the College should take on avariety of issues including the alcohol policy,overcrowding and disciplinary reform, Jewett'sstance on these has won kudos from all over theUniversity community.

"He has addressed those issues as well as theycould be addressed," Davis says.

The alcohol policy he established is one of themost trusting in the Northeast," says Brian C.Offutt '87, who last year led the UndergraduateCouncil. "The fact that he was willing to do thatmade us feel very good about him."

"In the [disciplinary reform,] he was trying tohear what are the concerns underlying the studentcriticism," says Wolocowitz. "Even if we couldn'timplement exactly what the Undergraduate Councilproposed, we tried to address those concerns."

Few people in the College, from students toadministrators, can find flaws in the job that thedean has done for the past year and a half or thepersonality that Jewett brings with him to thepost.

"I'm very happy with Dean Jewett and he'sgotten better since he started," says Lowell HouseSenior Tutor Jack M. Lee, who sits on the Ad Boardwith Jewett.

"The only weakness I can think of is a friendlykind of weakness," says Hastings. "He's verytalkative about his own views and he could get onwith meetings more promptly."

Even members of the Southern Africa SolidarityCommittee, who have had frequent run-ins with thedean over their attempts to convince theUniversity to divest from its South Africa-relatedholdings, say they have few bones to pick withJewett.

"I think he tries hard and I wouldn't questionhis sincerity. He's convinced that he is right onthis issue and won't stand for any opposition,"says SASC member Dorothee Benz '87. "He doesn'tseem to have a lot of understanding or patiencewith our views."

His one acknowledged weakness, his love oftalking, makes Jewett seem all the moreaccessible. Colleagues and students alike praisehim for what seems to be a genuine interest instudents and an understanding of what their livesare like.

"Students are the only people who can tell ushow well [the College administration] is working,so he seeks their opinions," Epps says. "He isextraordinarily sympathetic towards students. Hetrusts them and expects a lot of them."

"Whenever I've come to him with something, he'salways been responsive," Offut says.

In addition to holding weekly office hours,Jewett regularly attends student events, includinghockey games, and canoften be found visiting teamlocker rooms after the game.

"I enjoy contact with students. It's not aburden," Jewett says. "I've never turned down arequest for someone to see me or to go down andtalk to a group."

Earlier this year, when he was in the midst oftrying to reform the much-criticized Committee onRights and Responsibilities, Jewett made a pointof going to visit each house committee to answerstudent questions and hear their complaints.

But Jewett's interest in students does not stopat social life. Although he did his post-graduatework at a professional school--graduating from theBusiness School in 1960--his strong intellectualinterests have kept him tied into Harvard'sacademic environment and help him relate to bothstudents and faculty members.

"He's very bright, and it is absolutelyessential that somebody in the job [of dean of theCollege] have the credentials of an academic evenif he isn't one," says Bossert, who is also ArnoldProfessor of Science. "We [faculty members] speakto him and he speaks to us as an intellectualequal."

But Jewett downplays his intellectual prowess."I consider myself to be interested in academicissues and goals," Jewett says. "Whether I do thatas well as a person with a Ph.D, I don't know."Thirty years have passed since Jewett graduatedmagna cum laude, but he has never given uphis interest in academia. In fact the governmentmajor, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, has taken atleast one course every semester he has been atHarvard.

This semester, the dean attends every meetingof Slavic 155, "Dostoyevsky," and History 1081,"The Roman Republic," stretching out at the backof the room. Although he says he has enjoyed allthe classes he has taken, some courses arefavorites. "I loved Fine Arts 13 and WallaceMcCaffrey's course on the Tudors [History 1400,]"Jewett says. Of course, his selection is somewhatlimited. "I'm pretty much restricted to 12 to 1p.m. classes," he says. "That way I skip lunch,not work."

Unlike many administrators, who guard theirhome addresses and phone numbers carefully,Jewett's home phone number at 48A Linnean St. islisted in the student directory. Few otheradministrators have as keen an understanding ofthe the problems unique to Quad residents asJewett does. From his home on Faculty Row, he canhear the noise of the Quad renovations and hiscommute to work consists of a ride on the shuttlebus. "Living on campus has helped me to do my jobbetter because I have contact [with students]outside the office," he says.

The house masters said they appreciate thatJewett lives on campus and therefore has a keenunderstanding of what their job entails. "Housemasters are not used to having their working daysend at 5 p.m., and he isn't either," Bossert says."House Masters walk into his office when enragedand he calms them down."

The bachelor dean says that aside from thepractical reasons for living on campus, he enjoysthe Harvard residential life. "I wouldn't do it ifI didn't like it," he says. "It has provided someof the informal recreational life that one mighthave had with a family."

Except for a year he spent travelling in Franceon a Tower Fellowship after his graduation andsabbaticals from his various deanships, Jewett haslived and worked at Harvard continuously since hemoved into the fifth floor of Matthews Hall as afreshman in 1953. While an undergraduate, hehelped pay his tuition, according to theregulations of his financial aid package, andworked 10 to 15 hours a week on dorm crew.Eventually, he became a dorm crew student captain.

After college, the Taunton native travelled andstudied in France for a year before returning toHarvard in quest of his MBA. While attending theB-school, Jewett was a freshman proctor, and uponreceiving his MBA in 1960, became one of the firstsenior advisers to freshmen. From there he movedto the admissions office, where he worked for 23years, including 13 as dean.

As dean of admissions, Jewett maintained theCollege's need-blind admissions policy andorganized the merger of Harvard and Radcliffeadmissions. He continues to take a strong interestin College admissions and has been known to bringprospective students' folders with him to hockeygames. Sometimes, Jewett stills return to ByerlyHall to help out a bit with the process.

In his 13 years as of dean of admissions,Jewett accepted more than 25,000 students. Hesays, "I have very few regrets about the people Iadmitted. I only regret those who waste theiropportunities."

Jewett finds praise even for the studentmembers of SASC, who last spring built shantiesoutside University Hall, providing him with anexcellent view of the structures from his officewindow. He says that the group is comprised of"people who participate actively and throwthemselves into something."

Improving student life and education is one ofJewett's primary interests and goals as dean ofthe College. "I'm concerned in general terms withthe question of advising and student-facultycontact," says Jewett, who also serves as academicadviser for 10 freshmen each year. "I'm alwaysinterested in trying to facilitate communicationwithin the College between students and facultyand students and administrators."

"I would also like to increase the interest ofpeople in the College in public service," he adds."I'd like to expand and give support to the kindof activities [sponsored by] Phillips BrooksHouse."

Whether or not these issues turn out to beJewett's main focus in the next few years, peoplewho work with him say that they are sure he willdo something meaningful, and do it well.

"Dean Jewett is not the type who's going to sitaround and be stuffy," says Offutt. "I think he'dget bored if he wasn't tinkering with things."Jewett's first College home (left), and hiscurrent address.