A victim of the high-stress life of a major university president, Harvard University President Neil Rudenstine announced in early December that he will be taking an indefinite leave of absence due to physical exhaustion.
Doctors and Harvard officials believe that Rudenstine's condition could be due to the amount of stress involved in running Harvard's $2.1 billion capital campaign that started in May, 1994, the largest fund-raiser ever conducted by a university.
At the beginning of the campaign, Rudenstine, who has been president since 1991, stated his goal was to raise $1 million per day. The campaign is running slightly behind this goal.
Rudenstine, 59, told the New York Times that he was suffering from fatigue for a few weeks prior to the announcement. Doctors advised him to take a leave of absence and he is currently undergoing diagnostic tests to determine the medical cause of his fatigue.
"He is suffering from severe fatigue and exhaustion of unknown origin," Dr. Daniel Tosteson, the dean of Harvard Medical School and medical spokesman for Rudenstine told the New York Times.
"It is likely that the president will be on leave for a matter of weeks or longer."
In addition to the campaign pressures, Rudenstine was also entrenched in a faculty dispute concerning benefits and a battle over the College of Arts and Sciences' budget deficit.
While Rudenstine has only been president for three years, College President James Freedman has handled the pressure of his job long enough to become the longest-tenured president in the Ivy League.
But the College's Board of Trustees thought Freedman should take a break about seven years into his tenure. Even before he was diagnosed with cancer, the Board suggested that he take a six-month sabbatical.
Freedman will spend the next six months in Boston, Mass. resting and writing a book even though the College is in the midst of a $500 million capital campaign.
College presidents are under increased pressure in the 1990s because of the spiraling costs of higher education that have forced tuition increases.
The economic strain put on college presidents to raise money for financial aid has grown, causing longer workdays and greater stress.
In addition, presidents who cut programs and departments in order to slash costs are faced with opposition from faculty.
Because of backlash from cost-cutting attempts, both Columbia University's Michael Sovern, president until 1993 and Yale University's former president Benno Schmidt resigned under pressure from faculty under these circumstances.
"Today, [presidents] are faced with reconciling forces that are unreconcilable in the absence of new priorities in higher education," Ernest Boyer, the president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching told U.S. News & World Report.
Turnover among college presidents is running high. Each year about 10 percent of colleges replace their president and their average tenure is about six years, U.S. News reported.
Former Williams College President John Chandler, now a headhunter for universities searching for new presidents, stressed the importance of college presidents keeping the support of donors.
Presidents "have to be careful not to get caught in controversies that might alienate donors," he told the Baltimore Sun.
"They may appear to be timid but if they are to be attentive to the needs of their constituencies, they can't get engaged in too many fights that are not directly related to their universities," he said.
Provost Albert Carnesale will become acting president at Harvard until Rudenstine can come back.
