The President of Harvard from 1869 to 1909, Charles W. Eliot (1853), once said that the only way that he was able to accomplish anything was by outliving everyone else.

Derek C. Bok, who is in the sixteenth year of his presidency, has not had to wait so long as Eliot, who is famous for leading Harvard into the 20th century. Bok, a 57 year-old former Law School Dean, has been at the helm of Harvard as it has adjusted to the complicated, modern age of universities. In the last decade and a half, Bok has maintained a firm consensus which has allowed the University to rapidly expand as its endowment soared from $725 million to nearly $4 billion.

"That's what we expected when we chose him," says former Corporation member Hugh T. Calkins '45, who served on the search committee that picked Bok in 1970. "We were trying to find out whether this was Charles Eliot time, but there wasn't a lot of support for a new direction. We were looking for a sensible fellow who didn't have predetermined ideas about where a University ought to go. That's what we got."

Presiding over "this bizarre institution," as Bok once defined his job, has not been easy. Bok arrived on the scene shortly after the 1969 University Hall takeover amidst increasing pressures from a restless faculty, sometimes violent students, and an antiquated administrative apparatus.

In a remarkably short period of time Bok was able to win widespread support and usher Harvard into a period of sustained growth. He quickly put into place five new administrative deans and erected a mini-corporate structure at Harvard.

On an academic front, he built the John F. Kennedy School of Government, that while faulted by some for a lack of mission is universally seen as the foremost school of its kind. Bok is also credited with originating the "New Pathways" program at the Medical School, a revolutionary medical curriculum that emphasizes personal skills. He is also widely regarded for shaping the so-called case method of teaching at the Business School.

Yet change has not come with growing pains. During his 16 years at the helm, he has seen harsh criticism of Harvard's undergraduate education.

Significantly, Bok has attempted to maintain a consensus throughout. On the natty issue of South Africa, Bok has steered a middle course on the University's stock holdings, a target of harsh attacks since the late 1970's. His policy of "selective divestment" and the creation of an Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) composed of students and faculty have mollified some critics.

One of Bok's greatest talents is staying one step ahead of the criticism, some say. Harvard's 25th president has an unusual penchant for self-scrutiny that stems from his lawyer's mind. Bok is constantly vigilant for weak spots in the University that are sources of potential problems.

"I tend to think of him as Harvard's most constructive critic--he has a great critical mind," observes Rosovsky.

The former labor lawyer is widely praised for his annual reports which have directed stinging criticism of such Harvard bastions as the Business School. Each summer, Bok sends a detailed letter to each of the University's graduate school, offering them advice on nascent problems.

Bok's critics are quick to point out the extraodinary slowness with which such changes occur. Some say his major failing is that his desire for consensus is nearly obcessive--rendering him unable to give the University the direction or the initiative it needs.

But others say Bok's weakest flank may in fact be his strongest.

"The president of a university is not a president of a for-profit company," says Francis H. Burr '35, a former member of the Harvard Corporation who helped select Bok. "The president cannot say 'this is what we'll do'--he must get the support of the faculty."

The Stanford-educated Bok is certainly different from his predecessors. Unlike James B. Conant '14, a Brahmin often seen as a strongman at odds with the Harvard Corporation, and Nathan M. Pusey '28, who was never able to escape an image created by the student protests of 1969, Bok has been more successful at constructing a consensus than the others.