Weekend of Search Talks Ends

The presidential search committee met again yesterday, in its second meeting in two days.

The morning session took place during the time normally allotted to the Harvard Corporation's regular bimonthly meeting, but the Corporation was joined by members of the Board of Overseers who are also on the search committee.

The Overseers left shortly after outgoing President Neil L. Rudenstine, General Counsel Anne Taylor and University Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67--a top contender for the presidency--arrived at Loeb House. The trio met with the Corporation for two hours.

Search committee and Corporation member James R. Houghton '58 said that Fineberg was present only in his role as provost and that his presence was unconnected to search committee business.

Fineberg, one of the four finalists for the presidency, regularly sits in on Harvard Corporation meetings.

But this time Fineberg met with the Corporation just shortly after they discussed his future at the University.

Houghton and another Corporation member, Conrad K. Harper, said that yesterday's meeting went well. But committee members would not say when a decision on Rudenstine's successor would be made.

Fineberg, Rudenstine and Taylor left the meeting shortly before 2 p.m. and walked back to Mass. Hall with a police escort. Rudenstine declined comment and Fineberg did not respond to questions.

Soon after, Corporation members filed out of Loeb House and took chauffeured sedans back to the airport.

The committee began its meetings yesterday at the Boston Harbor Hotel, where members met for several hours, although it did not interview candidates.

Last weekend, the committee met with Bollinger in New York for a third time.

Judith B. McLaughlin, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a national expert on presidential searches, says that the search committee is likely to ensure that a candidate will accept the post before asking the full Board of Overseers, Harvard's second highest governing board, to meet to approve the choice--a step required by Harvard tradition.

In the end, McLaughlin added, the selection of a president is "a leap of faith."

--Andrew J. Miller, Catherine E. Shoichet and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to the reporting of this story.