Law Dean Bok Succeeded Pusey As President

On April 9, 1969, Harvard President Nathan M. Pusey '28 called in police to remove student demonstrators from University Hall, which they had taken over to protest University policies on issues ranging from real estate to the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Few could have imagined at the time that the decision would trigger a stream of events that would eventually lead to Pusey's resignation and create the need for a search for Harvard's 25th president.

Fewer than two years after the University Hall incident, Dean of the Law School Derek C. Bok, one of the deans who reportedly had asked Pusey to reconsider his decision to storm University Hall, was named president of Harvard University.

The search for Bok, which occupied much of the 1970-71 academic year, began with the widely-expected announcement of Pusey's resignation of February 16, 1970.

Pusey himself acknowledged that the turmoil which had rocked the University provided for a good time to select new leadership. The outgoing president declared that "this is a propitious point for a new President to take over."

The Search

The search for Pusey's successor was of a scale never before seen in Cambridge.

It began with an unprecedented move by the Corporation (the University's top governing board which helps choose the president) to send out 203,000 letters to students, faculty, alumni and staff soliciting names of possible candidates. This effort to poll the community as to what type of person was desirable resulted in several thousand responses and a list of more than 600 names.

Interviews often lasting more than an hour were held with key faculty members to discuss characteristics they desired in the next president. By the beginning of the year, more than 100 such interviews had been conducted.

Along with a list of names, the Corporation compiled a list of desirable qualities. The ideal candidate would have liberal--but not too liberal--political views, since conservatives were not seen as viable candidates, given the student climate.

Intellectual distinction and membership in an academic community--preferably Harvard--were also deemed important attributes.

The Corporation then moved the process into high gear. It compiled three lists: one of public figures, one of professors and administrators outside of Harvard and one of Harvard community members.

From the beginning, Bok's name was listed first among possible candidates by many search watchers.

Other names often mentioned at the time as possible picks included Kingman Brewster, the president of Yale University; Samuel I. Hayakawa, the president of San Francisco State College; and McGeorge Bundy, president of the Ford Foundation and a former confidant of John F. Kennedy '40.

The president of Radcliffe, Mary I. Bunting, was the only woman mentioned as a candidate, but she was never considered a serious contender.

Corporation members dismissed the possibility of a female president. When asked in the early fall of 1970 whether a woman would be president of Harvard, one Corporation member smiled and gave a "salient, plaintive look best interpreted as 'Now, come on, get serious,"' The Crimson reported at the time.

On November 9, the lists were culled and combined until 69 names remained, with most public figures having been eliminated.

That trend stayed true as the search continued. Less than a month later, on December 2, a list of 23 candidates under consideration was released by the Corporation.

No public figures were included. If anything, the list appeared dominated by academics. It added a few scholars who had not previously been seen as strong candidates, including Bernard Bailyn, chair of the History Department.

The list of 23 also cut some prominent candidates, including Dean of the College Ernest R. May '59 and Archibald Cox '34, whose involvement with the Nixon administration and flamboyant method of troubleshooting made him unpalatable to many.

Those who did make the list of 23 included four other University deans in addition to Bok: John T. Dunlop, dean of the FAS; Robert H. Ebert, dean of the Medical School; Harvey Brooks, dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Physics; and Theodore Sizer, dean of the Graduate School of Education.

During this time, Bok's position continued to improve; he fit the profile of a desirable candidate extremely well. With deans making up more than one-sixth of the candidates, it was clear the Corporation favored internal administrative experience.

Bok received such high consideration despite a flaw in his bachelors degree--it was from Stanford. And dating back centuries all of the University's presidents had been graduates of the College.

About a week before his selection, Bok told The Crimson that he neither sought nor would be offered the job, but the Independent was already publishing reports that he had been chosen.

Bok was named President on January 11, 1971.

A New President

Bok was considered a top candidate for the position from the start of the search, although at 40 years of age, he was the youngest of the prestigious group in contention for the job.

Bok had the right politics, opposing Vietnam and generally seen as liberal-but-not-too-liberal. He had the right scholarly credentials, including many book titles to his credit. Most of all, he managed to work well with a conservative, faculty and a reform-minded student body, while making sure the Law School became academically and financially strong again.

He met the three qualifications many believed necessary for selection: he was an able administrator, a respected academic and a skilled labor mediator.

When Bok took over as Dean of the Law School, both the largest fund-drive in its history and a feud over curriculum were occurring.

Bok managed to settle the academic issues of the school by moving toward a pass-fail system and turning the fundraiser into the biggest success ever for the school, raising more than $15 million.

As dean, he also made an unprecedented effort to ensure that the University hired minority workers, insisting on equitable policies and making his own spot checks of construction sites to make sure the new regulations were enforced.

As an academic, Bok, who was both a former Fullbright scholar and editor of the Harvard Law Review, authored numerous books and articles.

Although Bok was not necessarily beloved by every student at the Law School, he was universally respected as a capable diplomat and a man who could affect change quickly.

Students welcomed Bok to the Law School two years before, seeing him as the man to "usher the Law School into the '70s." Despite some dissatisfaction with the pace of change, most praised him for making important reforms.

Some more radical students criticized Bok for waffling on decisions, but even they respected his stance against the Vietnam War.

Cox, the former Williston Professor of Law who worked closely with the Pusey administration during the campus unrest in the late 1960s, said in an interview last week that Bok had proven skilled in dealing with activist Law School students, a skill demonstrated by the comparatively smooth relations between the Law School and its students.

In 1969, law students held a "study-in" at the Law School's library to protest its grading policy. Bok was called at 12:30 a.m. and was informed of the crisis. Rather than ignoring the incident or breaking up the protest, Bok went to talk to the protesters.

He ordered coffee and donuts, walked into the library, stood on a table and said, "I want to thank you all for coming here to show your concern about the Law School."

However, according to Cox, in the end, Bok's demonstrated administrative capabilities and his long-term vision for the University probably played a larger role in his selection.

While the University was then embroiled in conflict, Cox said the Corporation probably assumed that the fever-pitch of activism would pass and that there would be more important challenges ahead for Harvard.

Aside from what he brought to the job, Bok was also important for what he did not bring--a lot of baggage. His anonymity seems to have been viewed by the search committee not as a lack of stature but as an asset.

The Boston Herald reported the morning after Bok was named president: "If there are a lot of people across the land today wondering about the identity of Derek C. Bok, the Corporation and the Board of Overseers should not be offended. Chances are, it was planned that way. They no doubt were looking for someone who antagonizes the fewest of the polarized campus groupings."

The Reaction

Even after the announcement, Bok was not uniformly positive about his new role.

"I'm really happy in the work I'm doing now. If I really wanted to get out, I suppose I'd be on tenterhooks," he said.

For Pusey's successor, the timing of his appointment might easily have seemed less than "propitious."

According to The Crimson, the University's financial base was crumbling; it had committed to several new and costly projects; the Faculty was "divided and restless" and the students were "united and angry."

If Bok was not thrilled by his own selection, however, those in the media certainly were. The New York Times, Boston Globe and the Boston Herald all ran generally supportive editorials.

Students also were pleased that an administrator who seemed different from the old establishment--for the first time since the University Hall incident--was placed in Massachusetts Hall.

But Cambridge city officials were displeased with the level of input they had in the appointment.

Alfred E. Vellucci, the mayor at the time, said repairing relations between Harvard and the city should have been the number-one priority for the new administration and blasted Harvard officials for not considering Cambridge when selecting its new chief officer.

Vellucci flamboyantly criticized Bok's selection, saying that no one in Cambridge had even heard of him.

"I thought his name was 'Book,'" Vellucci said in a press conference two days after the appointment. "The only 'Bok' I know of is a beer."Crimson File Photo

On November 9, the lists were culled and combined until 69 names remained, with most public figures having been eliminated.

That trend stayed true as the search continued. Less than a month later, on December 2, a list of 23 candidates under consideration was released by the Corporation.

No public figures were included. If anything, the list appeared dominated by academics. It added a few scholars who had not previously been seen as strong candidates, including Bernard Bailyn, chair of the History Department.

The list of 23 also cut some prominent candidates, including Dean of the College Ernest R. May '59 and Archibald Cox '34, whose involvement with the Nixon administration and flamboyant method of troubleshooting made him unpalatable to many.

Those who did make the list of 23 included four other University deans in addition to Bok: John T. Dunlop, dean of the FAS; Robert H. Ebert, dean of the Medical School; Harvey Brooks, dean of the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Physics; and Theodore Sizer, dean of the Graduate School of Education.

During this time, Bok's position continued to improve; he fit the profile of a desirable candidate extremely well. With deans making up more than one-sixth of the candidates, it was clear the Corporation favored internal administrative experience.

Bok received such high consideration despite a flaw in his bachelors degree--it was from Stanford. And dating back centuries all of the University's presidents had been graduates of the College.

About a week before his selection, Bok told The Crimson that he neither sought nor would be offered the job, but the Independent was already publishing reports that he had been chosen.

Bok was named President on January 11, 1971.

A New President

Bok was considered a top candidate for the position from the start of the search, although at 40 years of age, he was the youngest of the prestigious group in contention for the job.

Bok had the right politics, opposing Vietnam and generally seen as liberal-but-not-too-liberal. He had the right scholarly credentials, including many book titles to his credit. Most of all, he managed to work well with a conservative, faculty and a reform-minded student body, while making sure the Law School became academically and financially strong again.

He met the three qualifications many believed necessary for selection: he was an able administrator, a respected academic and a skilled labor mediator.

When Bok took over as Dean of the Law School, both the largest fund-drive in its history and a feud over curriculum were occurring.

Bok managed to settle the academic issues of the school by moving toward a pass-fail system and turning the fundraiser into the biggest success ever for the school, raising more than $15 million.

As dean, he also made an unprecedented effort to ensure that the University hired minority workers, insisting on equitable policies and making his own spot checks of construction sites to make sure the new regulations were enforced.

As an academic, Bok, who was both a former Fullbright scholar and editor of the Harvard Law Review, authored numerous books and articles.

Although Bok was not necessarily beloved by every student at the Law School, he was universally respected as a capable diplomat and a man who could affect change quickly.

Students welcomed Bok to the Law School two years before, seeing him as the man to "usher the Law School into the '70s." Despite some dissatisfaction with the pace of change, most praised him for making important reforms.

Some more radical students criticized Bok for waffling on decisions, but even they respected his stance against the Vietnam War.

Cox, the former Williston Professor of Law who worked closely with the Pusey administration during the campus unrest in the late 1960s, said in an interview last week that Bok had proven skilled in dealing with activist Law School students, a skill demonstrated by the comparatively smooth relations between the Law School and its students.

In 1969, law students held a "study-in" at the Law School's library to protest its grading policy. Bok was called at 12:30 a.m. and was informed of the crisis. Rather than ignoring the incident or breaking up the protest, Bok went to talk to the protesters.

He ordered coffee and donuts, walked into the library, stood on a table and said, "I want to thank you all for coming here to show your concern about the Law School."

However, according to Cox, in the end, Bok's demonstrated administrative capabilities and his long-term vision for the University probably played a larger role in his selection.

While the University was then embroiled in conflict, Cox said the Corporation probably assumed that the fever-pitch of activism would pass and that there would be more important challenges ahead for Harvard.

Aside from what he brought to the job, Bok was also important for what he did not bring--a lot of baggage. His anonymity seems to have been viewed by the search committee not as a lack of stature but as an asset.

The Boston Herald reported the morning after Bok was named president: "If there are a lot of people across the land today wondering about the identity of Derek C. Bok, the Corporation and the Board of Overseers should not be offended. Chances are, it was planned that way. They no doubt were looking for someone who antagonizes the fewest of the polarized campus groupings."

The Reaction

Even after the announcement, Bok was not uniformly positive about his new role.

"I'm really happy in the work I'm doing now. If I really wanted to get out, I suppose I'd be on tenterhooks," he said.

For Pusey's successor, the timing of his appointment might easily have seemed less than "propitious."

According to The Crimson, the University's financial base was crumbling; it had committed to several new and costly projects; the Faculty was "divided and restless" and the students were "united and angry."

If Bok was not thrilled by his own selection, however, those in the media certainly were. The New York Times, Boston Globe and the Boston Herald all ran generally supportive editorials.

Students also were pleased that an administrator who seemed different from the old establishment--for the first time since the University Hall incident--was placed in Massachusetts Hall.

But Cambridge city officials were displeased with the level of input they had in the appointment.

Alfred E. Vellucci, the mayor at the time, said repairing relations between Harvard and the city should have been the number-one priority for the new administration and blasted Harvard officials for not considering Cambridge when selecting its new chief officer.

Vellucci flamboyantly criticized Bok's selection, saying that no one in Cambridge had even heard of him.

"I thought his name was 'Book,'" Vellucci said in a press conference two days after the appointment. "The only 'Bok' I know of is a beer."Crimson File Photo