Search Panel Reuses Earlier Letter

The committee charged with choosing Harvard’s next president is seeking the same qualities that ultimately led to the appointment of University President Lawrence H. Summers five years ago.

In a letter to the Harvard community yesterday, the search committee used passages nearly identical to those that appeared in a similar missive sent out at the outset of the University’s last presidential search in 2000.

The committee’s letter, sent to hundreds of thousands of Harvard affiliates, provided the first public insight into what the nine-person body is looking for as it launches the University’s second presidential search in less than a decade.

The committee’s choice of Summers in 2001 proved to be unpopular with some members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, leading to his resignation in February.

“We will, of course, be seeking a person of high intellectual distinction, with proven qualities of leadership, a devotion to excellence in education and research, a capacity to guide a complex institution through a time of significant change, and a dedication to the ideals and values central to a community of learning,” James R. Houghton ’58, the chair of the committee, wrote in the letter.

The same sentence was included in an August 2000 letter, with the only differences being the use of the word “vital” in lieu of “central,” and an omitted “a,” according to excerpts printed in a Crimson article that year. According to the article, the earlier letter was authored by Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45, then-senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.

Yesterday’s letter was e-mailed to all of Harvard’s current students, faculty, and staff, and mailed letters were sent to the University’s estimated 320,000 alumni, according to Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn.

For the letters’ recipients, the chance to opine via mail will likely be the only formal input they will have throughout the duration of the search. While the search committee will separately consult faculty and student advisory committees and meet with alumni, the ultimate decision will be left to the members of the presidential search committee, culled from the Corporation and its sister body, the Board of Overseers.

In yesterday’s letter, Houghton wrote—as did Stone nearly six years ago—that the feedback the committee receives will be a “critical element” of the search process. The extent to which the outside recommendations factored into the last search is unknown, as the committee’s records are sealed in Harvard’s archives until 2071.

Like Stone, Houghton wrote that the committee is seeking views on the “personal and professional qualities” that the next president should possess, as well as views on “any individuals you believe are deserving of serious consideration.”

Wrinn said he estimates the committee will receive “thousands” of responses to its request. Letters are being accepted via e-mail at psearch@harvard.edu or by postal mail to Loeb House, 17 Quincy Street.

Houghton could not be reached for comment last night, and Harvard spokesman John D. Longbrake declined to comment.

—Staff writer Javier C. Hernandez can be reached at jhernand@fas.harvard.edu.