Bok Is Looking Forward To California R and R

After 20 years at the helm of Harvard University, outgoing President Derek C. Bok says he is looking forward to a year of R and R in California.

R and R, as in research and research.

Last month, Bok announced that he and his wife, Sissela, had accepted one-year fellowships at the Center for the Study of Behaviorial Science, which is located on the campus of Stanford University.

Although Bok said he expects the year in California to provide a much-needed respite from the hassles of running Harvard University, he said in a recent interview that the year at Stanford will not just be a vacation.

Instead, with a research staff and all of Stanford's resources at his disposal, Bok said he hopes to spend the year writing a new book.

Bok, who taught labor law before he was named president in 1970, said he hopes to write about the differences in compensation among various occupations. Specifically, Bok said he will examine questions of why people in some professions are paid more than others, and "how strong an ethical base these differences have."

"In the last 20 years, high government servants have lost 30 to 40 percent of their real income," Bok said in the interview, "while business executives have probably seen a 30 to 40 percent rise."

"You walk down the street and wonder why peoplewho do the grubbiest work get paid the least," Boksaid.

Bok said he will try to explain why suchdisparities come about and what affect they haveon the nation.

Bok's said his interest in compensation stemsfrom both his work in labor law and hisexperiences as Harvard's chief executive.

"Harvard is a microcosm of the talent in thecountry--you see where [graduates] go and theopportunities they have," Bok said. "It's asubject that has touched my life in different waysin the past."

Bok said the return to Stanford, where heearned his undergraduate degree, should provide achance to benefit from a community of scholarswithout administrative responsibilities.

"There are not so many places in Americanuniversities where you can just go and work amongstimulating colleagues," Bok said.

"Most of all, I'd really like after all theseyears to write and think and do all the things Icame to the University to do in the first place,"he said.

Bok said he also looks forward to "getting outof Cambridge and getting a change of pace, andgoing to a place where I was long ago."

Bok added that he will also be glad to becloser to his 86-year-old mother, who lives inSouthern California.

Of course, Bok said that after 20 years ofendless administrative tasks, he was lookingforward to having some free time again.

The research center provides scholars with manyperks, including access to athletic facilities.And Bok, who was a member of Stanford'schampionship intramural volleyball team in 1951,said he plans to make good use of the netsprovided for scholars at the scenic researchcenter.

"I can do everything now but jump," he quipped