A. I expect to be talking with him. The frequency of our conversation will be determined more by his physicians than by him or by me, but any opportunity I have to access that experience, advice and wisdom is certainly something I will do, and I expect to be seeing him more this week.

Q. Who is his physician?

A. His medical spokesmen is Dr. Daniel Tosteson who is--

Q. I asked who was his physician?

A. Medical questions should be directed to Dr. Daniel Tosteson.

Q. Were you surprised when he told you?

A. Yes.

Q. Did he just tell you that he was going to do this, or did he ask for your consultation at all?

A. It was a mixture of the two. He informed me of what his strong preference was, and really in large measure, I shouldn't say his strong preference. It's as close as one comes to an order from his physicians. You will notice the wording, "insistence," not simply advice nor suggestions, but insistence of his physician.

Q. Is he at home resting right now?

A. I don't know.

Q. Did you hear the first word from Neil himself or from someone else?

A. I heard the first word from Neil Rudenstine himself.

Q. Can you describe the things that are on the plate in the coming weeks?

A. Well, to give you one example, tomorrow I have a meeting of the Ivy League presidents. Tomorrow. So that's one. There is the Tanner lectures this week that will be taking place, and this weekend, we will be inaugurating a new center for Latin American studies at the University. On Sunday, there's a meeting of the Board of Overseers.

Is that enough?

Q. If you had to guess how long you're going to be acting president, are we talking days, weeks, months?

A. Well, I would accept the wording from Dean Tosteson at this point, which is "weeks or more.