Summers To Face Faculty Storm

Summers To Face Faculty Storm

By WILLIAM C. MARRA and SARA E. POLSKY

Published on Tuesday, February 15, 2005

University President Lawrence H. Summers will face the
full Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) today for the
first time since his controversial remarks on women in
science last month, and many professors predict it
will be the toughest meeting of his three-and-a-half
year tenure.

"There's no question that this will be the most
important Faculty meeting of his presidency to date,"
said one senior professor, who asked to remain
anonymous.

History Department Chair Andrew D. Gordon was one of
many professors who yesterday predicted unusually high
attendance and a lively debate at this afternoon's
meeting, the first chance many faculty will have to
confront Summers about his Jan. 14 statement
suggesting that "innate differences" may help explain
the scarcity of female scientists at top universities.

"The buzz is that this is going to be an unusually
interesting meeting because of the follow-up to
President Summers' remarks," he said.

Summers yesterday declined to speculate on the content
of the meeting, saying he would rather "respond to
issues as they come up at the meeting."

At today's meeting, professors anticipate that Summers
will officially present two task forces focused on the
hiring and the integration of female professors into
the Faculty--both formed in the midst of the media
frenzy surrounding Summers' comments.

But faculty members say that these task forces will
not be enough to satisfy his critics.

While the monthly Faculty meetings are usually
dedicated to hashing out FAS policy-Dean of the
Faculty William C. Kirby's Annual Letter to the
Faculty and a report on the progress of the Curricular
Review are the two items officially on the agenda-professors
predict that today's meeting will likely shift towards
a discussion of Summers controversial tenure.

Professors across the departments say they plan to
voice their criticisms of Summers' leadership,
particularly in light of his recent remarks.

Professors also say that Summers' comments last month
have highlighted longer-standing concerns among the
Faculty over the declining proportion of tenure offers
made to women since Summers arrived in Cambridge.

Conflict with professors has characterized much of
Summers' tenure.

In late 2001, only months after Summers took office, a
dispute with former Fletcher University Professor
Cornel R. West '74 made national headlines and ended
with West's departure for Princeton University.

The president's remarks last month reignited some of
the animosity generated during the West dispute that
caused difficulties with other members of the
African-American Studies department.

Summers' comments last month also aggravated critics
who have clashed with his general leadership style.

"Summers squelches debate at faculty meetings and
ensures that major issues are not brought up: issues
such as the massive transfers of funds from FAS to the
Central Administration for Allston and its
consequences for other activities," Professor of
Physics and of Applied Sciences Daniel S. Fisher wrote
in an e-mail.

Fisher, who also led the planning for the
interdisciplinary Center for Brain Science,
additionally wrote that Summers "has systematically
suppressed open discussion on issues vital to the
future of Harvard."

One senior professor said yesterday that some faculty
may even as for a vote to force Summers from his post
as chair of Faculty meetings.

The senior faculty member, who wished to remain
anonymous, said such a vote is not likely at today's
meeting, but could be scheduled for a future Faculty
meeting.

But it is unlikely that such a motion would go through
the Faculty unopposed.

"If you don't agree with somebody, the first resort is
not to kick him out," said Chair of the East Asian
Languages and Civilizations Department Philip A. Kuhn.
"Everybody makes mistakes. If you look at what
[Summers has] actually done, he hasn't done too badly.
This kind of institutional violence is not particularly called
for," he said.

-- Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at
wmarra@fas.harvard.edu .
-- Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at
polsky@fas.harvard.edu .