Education: Setting All the Parts in Harmony

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"My name is Derek Bok," the tall, graying man said to a surprised group of freshmen not too long ago, "and I preside over this bizarre institution."

Neatly put, but when Bok took over the presidency of Harvard 15 years ago, at the age of 41, he probably would not have spoken so candidly or so casually about his institution. Though affable and articulate, Bok was and is a very private man. "He's got an envelope around him," as one associate puts it. Yet in the course of his tenure, Bok has successfully steered Harvard through some enormous changes.

In Bok's first year, he administered a budget of $204 million; today he controls $650 million. Previous presidents had little to worry about in the way of federal regulation, but Title VII of the Civil Rights Act required Bok to alter hiring policies for his whole faculty. The energy crunch and chronic inflation ravaged many universities; Bok created the Harvard Management Corp., which invested Harvard's $3.5 billion endowment in profitable stocks. Yet throughout these official and financial labors, Bok has paid primary attention to Harvard's intellectual and ethical goals, not only of the college but particularly of the business and law schools. His concerns have reverberated far beyond Cambridge. "The president of Harvard is de facto the educational leader of the country," says another college president. "He raises the issues first, and then they become the agenda."

No Harvard president could remain totally immune to criticism, and there are some who think Bok tends to speechify too much and others who think he should see more of the students. But on balance, he wins high marks. "Bok has continued to grow rather than rigidify," says Sociologist David Riesman, author of The Lonely Crowd. "He's a rarity." Law Professor Archibald Cox, whose experience with presidents includes being fired as Special prosecutor in Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, is equally enthusiastic. Bok, he says, "has set all the parts and players in harmony."

Bok shows an admirable indifference to pomp and circumstance. He tootles around Cambridge in an antiquated Volkswagen Beetle, newly repainted red. When he flies, he goes tourist class (and gets a wry pleasure out of occasionally seeing some grant-enriched professor in first). He seems quite unconcerned about his salary ($128,900), which is less than he pays several of his deans. He was the first president since 1911 who chose not to live in the presidential mansion in the Yard, preferring to remain in his colonial home in Elmwood. As he walks across the Yard, he often stoops to pick up pieces of litter.