Tough Times for Rudenstine

The honeymoon is over for President Neil L. Rudenstine.

At first glance, the University may have appeared friendly to the new president, especially during his festive installation in October.

But, as recent events have made painfully clear, the cheery exterior the president witnessed at the autumn gala belied a deeply ingrained, troubling problem, one that is wrapped up in a community of difference: Racial tensions continue to rip the University fabric, as students, faculty and administrators draw seemingly uncrossable lines on issues of diversity and insensitivity.

In the last month, Law School Dean Robert C. Clark has been embroiled in controversy over issues of sensitivity to women and minorities. The conservative magazine Peninsula, the Harvard police and The Crimson have also drawn fire for their treatment of Blacks.

And Black-Jewish tensions have flared in recent weeks with a letter to The Crimson from S. Allen Counter, the director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

For Rudenstine, the good times are a distant memory, and the last few weeks in particular, he said in an interview last Friday, have been the toughest and most intense of his presidency.

"Whatever the outward appearances may have been, or whatever the news may have been, there are plenty of events every day that make you go slightly up or slightly down," the

president said.

"But I think the last two or three weeks haveobviously been more intense, and they've beenharder to try to think out what would be fruitfuldirections to take and it's been much moredifficult to know how to help guide events withoutseeming to, in one way or the other, eitherrepudiate or undercut or wrongly undermine, leavealone injure one group or another group, oneindividual or another individual."

Despite his efforts not to undercut any singlegroup, Rudenstine added he can not be "utterlyevenhanded or impartial because there are certainvalues here that are at stake that I feel areimportant to enunciate."

Rudenstine also said he faces the challenge ofachieving a consensus in as large and scattered aninstitution as Harvard. He has begun a series ofmeetings with student groups, faculty andadministrators, attending some of them himself,with an aim to establishing "concrete steps" toimprove Harvard tense race relations.

But there are tough obstacles to the healingprocess, he said.

"In a place this size and this decentralized,it's not always easy even to get the peopletogether, leave alone to have the kind of seriousmeetings I mentioned before and get the outcomeyou want," the president said.

"So in that sense, it's been much tougher thana lot of other things during the year," Rudenstinesaid. "They're intrinsically a lot more difficultissues, and because they involve many, many peopleand very deeply rooted perceptions and forms ofbehavior, they're not easily susceptible tochange."

It is clear that these recent events have donemore than merely gain Rudenstine's attention andconcern. His sentiments seem heartfelt, as if heis personally pained by what he sees.

At a meeting with Undergraduate Council memberslast week, Rudenstine was asked what he haslearned in his first year as president. Hisresponse showed how the facade of applause andcheers that greeted Rudenstine has so quickly anddramatically splintered into pieces.

"Watching a fair number of the events on campusthis year," he responded, "I would say that I'vebeen sometimes surprised and sometimesdisconcerted to see the extent to which peoplehave been hurt and people have hurt otherpeople--unwittingly or wittingly or wittingly,unwittingly mostly--and the extent to whichcertain kinds of speech, certain kinds of behaviorhave really been very bruising.

"And I detect that more in the air a lot, be itethnic or racial or gender or political andoccasionally religion...than would have been thecase to this degree five or ten years ago."

Rudenstine then said these recent events havebeen "quite unsettling and occasionally, I think,really quite nasty. I'm just surprised at thelevel of vehemence...that comes spilling out."

The president also said the current tensions oncampus are the consequences of a more numericallydiverse community, and that in the long haul, theUniversity is better off for the differences.

"I think that on any long-term historical view,whatever our problems may be and they are many,we're as a society and as an institution in a farbetter place, because we're more inclusive than weused to be, and that means there are more tensionsbut better to have the tensions than to beexcluding people, by far," he said.

"But the pain and the human cost of that is areal cost, and you can't help but be sobered bythat, I think But I don't think we can give up."

Clearly, Rudenstine can not give up, howeversobering the past few weeks have been.

He has made a personal commitment to finding away to ease racial tension in the Universitycommunity, thus raising the stakes for hispresidency.

Should he succeed, he'll win widespread praiseand respect. But should he fail, the failure couldhaunt him for the remainder of his career

president said.

"But I think the last two or three weeks haveobviously been more intense, and they've beenharder to try to think out what would be fruitfuldirections to take and it's been much moredifficult to know how to help guide events withoutseeming to, in one way or the other, eitherrepudiate or undercut or wrongly undermine, leavealone injure one group or another group, oneindividual or another individual."

Despite his efforts not to undercut any singlegroup, Rudenstine added he can not be "utterlyevenhanded or impartial because there are certainvalues here that are at stake that I feel areimportant to enunciate."

Rudenstine also said he faces the challenge ofachieving a consensus in as large and scattered aninstitution as Harvard. He has begun a series ofmeetings with student groups, faculty andadministrators, attending some of them himself,with an aim to establishing "concrete steps" toimprove Harvard tense race relations.

But there are tough obstacles to the healingprocess, he said.

"In a place this size and this decentralized,it's not always easy even to get the peopletogether, leave alone to have the kind of seriousmeetings I mentioned before and get the outcomeyou want," the president said.

"So in that sense, it's been much tougher thana lot of other things during the year," Rudenstinesaid. "They're intrinsically a lot more difficultissues, and because they involve many, many peopleand very deeply rooted perceptions and forms ofbehavior, they're not easily susceptible tochange."

It is clear that these recent events have donemore than merely gain Rudenstine's attention andconcern. His sentiments seem heartfelt, as if heis personally pained by what he sees.

At a meeting with Undergraduate Council memberslast week, Rudenstine was asked what he haslearned in his first year as president. Hisresponse showed how the facade of applause andcheers that greeted Rudenstine has so quickly anddramatically splintered into pieces.

"Watching a fair number of the events on campusthis year," he responded, "I would say that I'vebeen sometimes surprised and sometimesdisconcerted to see the extent to which peoplehave been hurt and people have hurt otherpeople--unwittingly or wittingly or wittingly,unwittingly mostly--and the extent to whichcertain kinds of speech, certain kinds of behaviorhave really been very bruising.

"And I detect that more in the air a lot, be itethnic or racial or gender or political andoccasionally religion...than would have been thecase to this degree five or ten years ago."

Rudenstine then said these recent events havebeen "quite unsettling and occasionally, I think,really quite nasty. I'm just surprised at thelevel of vehemence...that comes spilling out."

The president also said the current tensions oncampus are the consequences of a more numericallydiverse community, and that in the long haul, theUniversity is better off for the differences.

"I think that on any long-term historical view,whatever our problems may be and they are many,we're as a society and as an institution in a farbetter place, because we're more inclusive than weused to be, and that means there are more tensionsbut better to have the tensions than to beexcluding people, by far," he said.

"But the pain and the human cost of that is areal cost, and you can't help but be sobered bythat, I think But I don't think we can give up."

Clearly, Rudenstine can not give up, howeversobering the past few weeks have been.

He has made a personal commitment to finding away to ease racial tension in the Universitycommunity, thus raising the stakes for hispresidency.

Should he succeed, he'll win widespread praiseand respect. But should he fail, the failure couldhaunt him for the remainder of his career