Presidential Search Committee Stays Mum

As he waited to cross Quincy Street yesterday evening, the chairman of the presidential search committee, James R. Houghton ’58, said that he had “no update” on the hunt for Harvard’s 28th leader.

The search panel was in Cambridge this weekend for a joint session with alumni overseers, who must approve the committee’s choice before a president can be appointed.

In recent days, the search committee had been most seriously considering Radcliffe Institute Dean Drew Gilpin Faust for the post. When asked if he had met with Faust on Sunday, Houghton—a brown fedora on his head—responded that he had talked to many people over the weekend.

“I can’t remember who I met with last night,” he said with a grin.

Corporation Fellow Robert D. Reischauer ’63 did not comment on the search as he entered Loeb House yesterday.

After the meeting with the Overseers on Sunday, search committee members left Loeb House and were expected to reconvene later that evening.

This past weekend would have been a convenient time for the search committee to make a decision, as many of the 30 overseers were in Cambridge for the meetings. It is now unclear when a decision might be made.

The Board of Overseers has not turned down a search committee’s presidential recommendation in well over a century, leading some observers to label the confirmation vote a “rubber stamp.”

When the search committee selected Lawrence H. Summers in 2001, overseers said after the confirmation vote—unanimous in support of Summers’ appointment—that they played an active role in the decision.

Houghton would not elaborate on the role the Overseers would have in choosing the next president. “They’ll be involved when the time comes,” he said.

Several overseers declined to comment or could not be reached for comment yesterday. Faust declined to comment after teaching a Civil War seminar.

—Aditi Banga contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Laurence H. M. Holland can be reached at lholland@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Brittney L. Moraski can be reached at bmoraski@fas.harvard.edu.