A Ms. at Mass. Hall

Last May, President Neil L. Rudenstine announced that he would resign from his post at the University in June 2001. Rudenstine's tenure at the University has been as exceptionally brief as it has been productive; after just one decade he has exceeded the overall fundraising goals for the University's capital campaign, bringing our endowment to an impressive $14.4 billion. Rudenstine was a president with a mission and he knew to step down once he had met his objectives for the University.

Now the presidential search committee has the trying job of creating a new vision for Harvard. During their last search, the committee found Rhodes Scholar Rudenstine, the man who could deliver the personal touch and billions of dollars. This next president can--and should--virtually ignore issues of fundraising and instead focus on the role Harvard plays in the national and international communities.

And I think the presidential post should be filled by a woman.

Unfortunately there are not as many women as there are men with the experience and expertise to operate Harvard University. Because of women's historically limited opportunities and academic institutions' widespread resistance to women breaking through their ranks, not many females will be eligible for the presidential position. But there certainly are women who have defied the institutions that had previously denied them the opportunity to excel in academic administration, and those laudable women should be the top nominees for the job.

Whoever this woman may be, she will not be nominated solely because of her gender but rather because she has proven herself as an accomplished academic administrator. It would be terribly detrimental to both the University and to the ideals of feminism if an unqualified woman assumed the University presidency. But there are women with the leadership qualities, vision and administrative experience who can escort our University into the next century. It is not enough that the short list of presidential candidates includes a few token women and minorities--one of them should be offered the position.

Harvard won't be the first to have granted a female the presidential post; among others, Nannerl Keohane assumed the position at Duke University in 1993 and Judith Rodin has been president at the University of Pennsylvania since the same year. But Harvard has historically been a bastion of WASP gentility--and traces of that aristocratic outlook still exist today. The maids' quarters may now house students, but the male-only final clubs continue to thrive, and those with a Harvard legacy in their family are unjustifiably given preferential treatment in the admissions process. The presidential search is a fortuitous opportunity to step away from the WASP legacy that continues to influence the atmosphere of the University.

In numerous faculty reports, interviews with The Crimson and public statements, the University has pledged to make its administration and its faculty more diverse. Even so, it hasn't been easy for women to break through the ranks. Faculty positions, of course, are subject to the career decisions of those who have already secured their positions as professors. Until great turnover finally enables the University to change the gender composition of its departments, white males will continue to dominate the tenured faculty positions at the College and University.

Whenever a position becomes available and an acclaimed and qualified woman shows interest in the position, I hope that the selection committee selects her for the faculty. Hopefully they recognize and want to reverse the imbalance of male to female professors at the school and they acknowledge the important perspective and experience females lend to any academic discussion.

Since last May, the University has had the chance to extend this recognition to the crest of its administration as well. Tenure processes and administration appointments have often been compared to a political process. And, as in politics, the presidential selection process will become a matter of women occasionally replacing the white males who have previously been the only type of person to hold--or to be considered for--the position.

But why should the University make any effort to change what has been the status quo throughout the University's history? Harvard is certainly as popular and as prestigious as ever--donations and applications have not slowed down simply because women hold a mere fraction of the tenured faculty positions at the University or because a woman has yet to reign over Massachusetts Hall. Why should Harvard begin to broaden its horizons, address women's issues and make concerted efforts to diversify its faculty and administration when there is no pressing need to do so?

Harvard has the responsibility to think outside of the box. Throughout the country and the international community, heads turn when our name is mentioned. The next University president, secure with the resources afforded by a near-$15 billion endowment, should carry the vision and emphasis on education into the national arena. The nature of the post is such that the efforts made by the president are as symbolic as the choice of the leader. Rudenstine made occasional ventures into the national spotlight, advocating affirmative action programs and funding for university research, but his heart, or at least his agenda, was clearly in the schmoozing and the money. Our wealth and prestige leave us in a comfortable position to promote secondary and especially primary education throughout the nation.

That same vision--to encourage Harvard's own high standards of instruction throughout all levels of education--and that ability to think outside the box must be extended to the presidential selection process.

Should the committee select a woman for the position, the transition in Harvard history would have far-reaching consequences more significant than anything the University has ever done for the ideal of equality.

Jordana R. Lewis '02, a Crimson executive, is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House.