His Days Are Numbered

You might expect an outgoing university president to take a little time out to savor his remaining days in office. To reflect on his years at the institution, perhaps. Or maybe just to relax. But not Derek Bok.

Bok, who steps down June 30 after 20 years as president of Harvard, says he is busier than ever these days.

In fact, Bok says, between the usual spring-time load of meetings to attend and faculty positions to fill, not to mention the host of dinners and receptions being held in his honor, he is "booked to the hilt through graduation."

"I doubt very much whether I'm going to have a great deal of time just to sit around," he says.

Bok, who announced his decision to resign last June, will be suceeded by Neil L. Rudenstine, who is currently executive vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York.

Bok says the transition process itself is relatively straightforward. "I just don't show up one morning and he's here."

He says that as far as he knows, little paperwork will be necessary on his part. "This is a pretty informal place," he says. "The Corporation knows I'm going. I know I'm going. I don't think I have to write them about it."

Until then, Bok says, business is proceeding pretty much as usual in Mass Hall, although he is trying to make sure that a number of his projects are either completed or well underway before he leaves.

Several other University officials say they are making a concerted effort to finish such projects, in honor of the outgoing president.

Nancy S. Pyle of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) says that her office is hoping to complete one or two more debt-for-scholarship swaps before the end of the academic year. As part of the internationalization effort that has been one of Bok's special interests, HIID created the firstever such swap last summer with Ecuador. Recently a similar deal was worked out with Mexico.

"Since that was his initiative, we would like to honor him by concluding as many as possible before he goes," says Pyle.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57 says that Bok wanted to appoint masters for Currier and Eliot House before stepping down--appointments that were made yesterday. Bok is also taking an interest in seeing that the DeWolfe St. housing complex is completed, says Jewett.

James D. Wilkinson, director of the Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning, says he is pushing forward a number of projects aimed at improving teaching quality that he hopes will come together before Bok's departure.

These projects aim to help teaching fellows assemble portfolios reviewing their work, and should yield "videotaped vignettes" based on real-life classroom situations and a handbook for junior faculty.

and others like them, will form part of his legacy, Wilkinson says.

"People are going to continue working on projects he initiated long after he leaves," he says.

But as Vice President for Finance Robert R. Scott points out, for much of the University, Bok's impending departure has had little effect on day-to-day activity.

"This is a very complicated, continuing institution," says Scott, explaining that he is not aware of any special efforts being made in the area of finance right now. "I'm sure he has some things of his own that he is trying to finish up, but I'm doing everything possible to get things ready for the next president."

And even more important than finishing up specific projects, Bok says, will be leaving a clear record of ongoing work for his successor to consult.

"There are a lot of things I need to get down on paper so that my successor will have some idea or things which he otherwise will discover and be surprised by," he says.

"Otherwise, he'll find himself with people writing in and saying, 'Why haven't I heard from you about this?' or 'Do I take it by your silence that you are no longer interested in that?' and he won't know what's going on."

After Commencement, Bok says, he plans to begin wading through the "mountain of minutiae" that needs to be taken care of so that his office will be left in "reasonable shape."

"At some point I've got to go through masses of papers, throw huge numbers of them away, keep others and put them in boxes," he says. "There's just a lot of stuff of that kind that has to be done and I simply haven't had time this year."

California Bound

In July, Bok will be headed back to California, where he grew up. He and his wife, philosopher-ethicist Sissela Bok, will spend a year in Palo Alto as fellows at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.

Bok says that he plans to have only minimal contact with Harvard for at least a while after his departure.

Rudenstine may call him occasionally with questions, Bok says, but since his bungalow study at the Center will be without a phone, he won't be particularly accessible during the daytime.

"I think it's very helpful if the old president remains pretty much out of sight so that the new president doesn't feel that anyone is looking over his shoulder," he says. "Being 3000 miles away and barely in touch by telephone... I'll be about as inaccessible as he needs me to be."

Asked if he is looking forward to the more leisurely pace of life away from Harvard, Bok laughs.

"Oh, I'd say 20 years is just about the right amount of time at this job," he says.

In the interest of our readers' academic wellbeing, Reporters" Notebook and Required Reading do not appear in this reading period edition of News in Review. We figured you have enough required reading to do on your own, and we wouldn't want to spoil it.