President Remains Secluded

President Neil L. Rudenstine yesterday remained in seclusion for the fourth consecutive day, and University officials refused to provide independent confirmation of their claim that the president is resting at his Cambridge mansion.

Despite the Crimson's request that University officials verify Rudenstine's whereabouts, the Harvard News Office continued to report, as it has since Rudenstine took a leave of absence on Monday, that the president is at home and undergoing diagnostic tests for fatigue and exhaustion of an unknown origin.

"Once we know something, we will tell you," said Joe Wrinn, director of the news office. "There is nothing new to report."

Rudenstine has not made a public appearance since before Thanksgiving. The University's acting president, Albert Carnesale, announced Monday that the president would be taking a medical leave, but Rudenstine did not show up at a press conference.

A visit to Rudenstine's Elmwood Ave. home late yesterday afternoon did not support or refute the University's official statement.

"He's pretty good," said an unidentified woman who answered the front door. "He's resting."

The woman was not the president's wife, Angelica Z. Rudenstine.

Speculation is rampant as to the nature of the president's affliction. But a Boston Globe report yesterday quoted Rudenstine's family as saying the mysterious illness is nothing more than fatigue.

"He's just completely worn out," Mae Rudenstine, the president's mother, told the Globe. "That's the truth. I thank God that it isn't anything serious like cancer. There's been nothing like this before. He's a very healthy person."

Sources close to the president, however, told the Crimson Monday that Rudenstine took a few days off in February because of exhaustion. He also took a similar leave at Princeton, where he served as provost during the 1980s, according to the sources.

Contacted by The Crimson this week, Mae Rudenstine declined to comment.

Repeated efforts to reach other members of Rudenstine's immediate family were unsuccessful.