Fellow administrators give McLoughlin glowing marks as well.
Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 says, “He was a very hardworking, very creative, and very organized colleague. I interviewed him when he was applying to be assistant dean, [and] I was struck then by his energy, his imagination, his commitment to make a difference. He was a great hire. Great hire.”
But since then, not everyone has always been pleased with McLoughlin’s leadership.
Members of the Harvard Advocate reacted with ire in 2004, just after McLoughlin’s appointment as assistant dean, when he and other administrators showed up unannounced to order thousands of dollars’ worth of facilities repairs. All these years later, McLoughlin mentions the Advocate first when talking about people who have criticized him.
When the budgetary crisis struck in 2009, McLoughlin drew anger from a larger segment of the student body by announcing that shuttle services would end at 1:30 a.m. rather than 3:45 a.m. on weeknights and no longer operate on weekend mornings.
Recalling the resulting uproar—out of safety concerns, late-night services eventually survived uncut—Bowman says, “There were some more unpopular aspects of his tenure, such as cutting shuttles. I view him as one of the few people who actually take charge of matters.... He had to make budgetary decisions and he made those.”
Observers say McLoughlin has developed a close friendship with Hammonds, which has contributed to a large role in her administration.
“He was such a driving force for Dean Hammonds,” says Eric N. Hysen ’11, a former vice president of the Undergraduate Council.
“He was very much setting the agenda for what she was doing,” he said.
But for now, Hammonds might not pick someone to fill his shoes and leave the position of senior adviser unfilled.
“Dean Hammonds is a different dean now,” McLoughlin says, positing that perhaps she wants to rely on a looser network of many informal advisers rather than one official staunch supporter. “Maybe she has decided that she doesn’t need a senior adviser now.”
—Heng Shao contributed reporting to this article.
—Staff writer Julie M. Zauzmer can be reached at jzauzmer@college.harvard.edu.