Shots In The Dark

Some interesting stories today. This Boston Herald article discusses the odds of either motion on Summers' leadership passing, and considers them low. I think the important thing is the expectations game. Will Randy Matory's motion pass? Maybe not. But if 35% of the faculty in attendance votes for it, that's still a pretty significant base of support for a proposal that makes everyone uncomfortable. Will Theda Skockpol's more compromising motion pass? Maybe. But how much support does it need to have to mean anything? 51 percent? Seventy-five percent?

This Bloomberg piece discusses Harvard's "faceless" Corporation. It's a hugely important subject for the Harvard community. The Corporation chose Summers in a highly secretive process, and since Summers has been appointed, he's had the opportunity to choose four members of the seven-member Corporation (and Summers makes five). If Harvard were a company—and it is, in many ways—you'd say that it has a governance problem. And it does. This is the governing board of a tax-free institution which receives almost half a billion dollars a year in federal aid—but the Corporation refuses to publish an agenda for its monthly meetings, any minutes of those meetings, or meet with the press. It is the smallest governing body, so far as I can tell, of any university in the United States. And it's certainly the most secretive. Maybe the faculty should have a vote of no-confidence in the Corporation....

And finally, you can listen to me talking about Harvard Rules on WBUR here.