Bok Stepping Down as Harvard President

Harvard University President Derek C. Bok announced his resignation Tuesday after presiding over two turbulent decades of sweeping changes at the nation’s oldest and richest university.

“It is time for me to step down and allow a new president to provide fresh energy and continuity of leadership through the next decade,” Bok said in a statement.

Bok, 60, became the university’s 25th president in 1971. He said he will step down at the end of the next school year, adding that he had no immediate long-term plans.

His presidency began amid student demonstrations against the Vietnam War. It comes to a close as women and minorities are seeking greater representation at the 350-year-old school.

In recent years, Bok also was the target of protesters seeking total divestment of university stock holdings in companies doing business in South Africa, and by clerical staff who formed a union after a 13-year fight.

During his tenure, a core curriculum of basic studies was instituted, women gained equal access to the previously all-male college and the school became more accessible to part-time students by expanding the extension and summer schools.

Also under his direction, the John F. Kennedy School of Government was developed into a major professional school, two art museums were added and athletic facilities were expanded.

Gifts to the university rose from $50 million at the start of his presidency to more than $200 million this year. The university’s endowment rose to about $5 billion, the nation’s richest.

Bok, often ranked among America’s most influential educators, drew wide praise as word of his resignation spread.

“He’s absolutely one of the leading presidents . . . not simply because it’s Harvard, but he has provided outstanding leadership,” said Robert Hochstein of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The university said a committee was being formed to find a successor for Bok.

Bok, a Stanford University graduate, earned a law degree from Harvard in 1954. He joined the Harvard Law School faculty in 1958 and became dean of that school in 1968.

He is the author of several books, including one on labor law with Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and three on higher education.

Bok also has served as chairman of the American Council on Education and the Assn. of American Universities and as a member of the board of the National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities.