Shots In The Dark

Bombardieri's article does contain one particularly telling insight—the photograph. It shows Summers walking into Lowell lecture hall at the start of the most revent faculty meeting. To Summers' left is a man who appears to be escorting Summers, and two men behind him look like members of a security detail.

The first man is university provost Steven Hyman, one of the university's highest-ranking academic officials. Whether by choice or no, Hyman has been reduced to a chaperone's role, flanking and protecting his celebrity boss as Summers is chased by a cameraman—he's like the guy who carries Michael Jackson's umbrella as Jackson makes his way into court. You have to think that this is not why Hyman became provost.

And if the two men are indeed bodyguards...

Has a Harvard president ever needed a bodyguard before? Or enlisted the university provost to watch his back? This is the kind of thing that gives rise to the impression of an imperial presidency.