Neil Rudenstine and Blacks at Harvard

Abstract

[Neil L. Rudenstine] undoubtedly signed off on the hiring and promotion of more black faculty members than any previous Harvard president; he may have assisted in the hiring and promotion of more than all of his predecessors combined. Rudenstine, moreover, appointed the first black University Professors in Harvard's history. University Professors occupy a singular niche; they are a select few who belong to no particular school or department but may teach wherever they wish. President Rudenstine's appointment of [William Julius Wilson] and West to be University Professors is steeped in symbolism. It dramatizes his desire to integrate Harvard fully, from the ranks of the students to the highest professorial circles. It was no accident, either, that it was during Rudenstine's administration that Conrad Harper, the distinguished New York attorney, became the first black elected to the Harvard Corporation -- the most powerful single group of decision makers within the Harvard empire. Harper's ascendancy is yet another indication of Rudenstine's integrative ethos.

SADNESS AND GRATITUDE were the predominant sentiments felt by most African-American administrators and faculty members upon learning of Neil Rudenstine's plans to step down from the presidency of Harvard University in the spring of 2001. They understood that they were losing a person who had demonstrated in word and deed a deep-seated commitment to elevating the status of blacks in higher education generally and at Harvard in particular.

For years blacks had complained that they felt like outsiders in what should have been their institutional home. Neil Rudenstine's administration went far towards assuaging that feeling of alienation. He personally met periodically with a group -- the Harvard Association of Black Faculty and Administrators -- that primarily voices the concerns of midlevel black administrators, an important cadre of workers whose presence at many colleges and universities is often neglected. Rudenstine strongly supported the African-American studies department, extending to that department's famous chairman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the resources needed to attract established academic stars such as William Julius Wilson, Cornel West, and Lawrence Bobo.

Neil Rudenstine undoubtedly signed off on the hiring and promotion of more black faculty members than any previous Harvard president; he may have assisted in the hiring and promotion of more than all of his predecessors combined. Rudenstine, moreover, appointed the first black University Professors in Harvard's history. University Professors occupy a singular niche; they are a select few who belong to no particular school or department but may teach wherever they wish. President Rudenstine's appointment of Wilson and West to be University Professors is steeped in symbolism. It dramatizes his desire to integrate Harvard fully, from the ranks of the students to the highest professorial circles. It was no accident, either, that it was during Rudenstine's administration that Conrad Harper, the distinguished New York attorney, became the first black elected to the Harvard Corporation -- the most powerful single group of decision makers within the Harvard empire. Harper's ascendancy is yet another indication of Rudenstine's integrative ethos.

In many contexts, Neil Rudenstine was a cool, soft-spoken administrator. With respect to matters involving the racial integration of the university, however, he became passionate. Responding to potent attacks against affirmative action in the early 1990s, Rudenstine dedicated his 1993-1995 President's Report to a thoroughgoing defense of special efforts aimed at insuring the presence at Harvard of talented students associated with historically marginalized groups. Pleading for the conservation of policies that have enabled elite schools to experience some appreciable degree of racial integration, President Rudenstine applauded "the substantial human and institutional achievement -- in terms of education and diversity -- of the past few decades.... The record is impressive. The progress, however imperfect, is inspiring. The progress must be sustained and strengthened. To change course now would be to turn aside from many decades of difficult but steady hope and fulfillment, in order to follow pathways far less bright, and far less full of promise."

An important feature of Neil Rudenstine's support of blacks at Harvard is that it manifested itself not only when he was the center of attention but also when he showed up at events at which black scholars from Harvard and elsewhere were the primary attractions. From a panel at Harvard Law School on racial profiling to a symposium at Harvard College on the history of black studies, one often found President Rudenstine in audiences, appreciatively listening to scholars debate major issues involving the race question in American life. One also could find him at homes or other intimate settings in which he seemed at ease around blacks and entirely willing to interact with them fully. This authenticity is another reason why most blacks at Harvard grew to trust, like, and ultimately embrace Neil Rudenstine.

Recollections of President Rudenstine's tenure take on added poignancy now in light of recent, highly publicized conflicts between black professors and Harvard's new president, Lawrence Summers. Rudenstine would never have generated the anger and resentfulness that his successor has triggered. At the same time, it is precisely because of Neil Rudenstine's legacy that Summers has been forced to mend fences. The personnel, esprit de corps, and confidence that enabled the Harvard African-American studies department to chasten Summers constitutes a monument to the efforts of his self-effacing predecessor.

Article copyright TLC Private Operating Foundation.

Photo (Neil L. Rudenstine)