[DEBATE] : Re: (Fwd) Summers: no confidence

[Patrick Bond]

He just resigned! 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick Bond" <pbond at mail.ngo.za>
To: "debate: SA discussion list " <debate at lists.kabissa.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2006 4:43 AM
Subject: [DEBATE] : (Fwd) Summers: no confidence


Wall Street Journal - February 18, 2006

Harvard Board Weighs
Summers's Presidency
By DANIEL GOLDEN

Members of Harvard University's governing board are mulling whether 
President Lawrence Summers should step down before a scheduled Feb. 
28 faculty vote on a motion of no-confidence in his leadership, say 
people familiar with the matter.

These people say members of the board, known as the Harvard 
Corporation, have become increasingly concerned that continued 
faculty discontent with Mr. Summers, a former U.S. treasury 
secretary, is hurting the university. Mr. Summers, who took over as 
president in 2001, has alienated some faculty members with a brusque 
management style and sometimes-outspoken views.

The corporation names the president and is the only authority that 
can remove him.

A year ago, Harvard's arts and sciences faculty voted no-confidence 
in Mr. Summers, and the board is worried about the effects of a 
second bout of public wrangling. On the other hand, members are 
concerned that if Mr. Summers is driven out by the faculty, his 
successor may not be able to govern effectively.

"Everyone is weighing the risk to Harvard of having someone leave 
under such adverse circumstances, versus the risk of having someone 
stay lacking broad support," said a person who has been in frequent 
contact with the board. "Everybody recognizes that it would be good 
to have clarity before a vote on the motion of no confidence."

As Harvard president, Mr. Summers has sought to boost the quality of 
undergraduate education and of science research, including 
establishing an institute on stem-cell research. While donations to 
the university have remained high, the percentage of alumni giving to 
the university has declined, which some critics see as a sign of 
discontent with his leadership. The university has delayed plans for 
a major fund-raising campaign.

"You can't have this kind of thing come up regularly," said one donor 
familiar with the corporation's thinking about the no-confidence 
motion. "If you can't lead, you can't lead. Fair or unfair, that's 
the issue."

Several members of the board, including former Duke University 
president Nannerl Keohane and Robert Reischauer, president of the 
Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., have been interviewing faculty, 
deans and key alumni about Mr. Summers, according to people familiar 
with their inquiries. "The corporation is in very active listening 
mode," one person said.

Mr. Summers declined requests for comment. Harvard officials said he 
is on a ski vacation with his family over the long weekend.

Mr. Summers's troubles last year were catalyzed by a talk he gave 
suggesting that innate gender differences might account for the 
relative scarcity of women with high-level academic careers in 
science and math. This time, faculty critics have assailed Mr. 
Summers on matters ranging from the resignation of a key dean to the 
lack of any university discipline meted out to economics professor 
Andrei Shleifer, a close friend of the president. Last year, Harvard 
and Mr. Shleifer settled a civil suit brought by the federal 
government, stemming from allegations that he had violated 
conflict-of-interest rules by investing in financial markets in 
Russia while heading a foreign-aid program there.

Calls for Mr. Summers's departure from faculty critics have escalated 
in recent days, while his supporters complain that he hasn't 
responded with his customary vigor.
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