A Letter to Summers
The faculty council of the Harvard School of Public Health has posted a
letter to Summers on its website. Key quote: "Our faculty affirms that respect for others both within and outside the university community is essential to open discourse and the pursuit of truth and excellence. We appreciate your recognition that the words and actions of your Administration have not always been consistent with the values that have made Harvard an admired institution worldwide."
Dean Barry Bloom is silent.
In
Harvard Rules, I wrote that Summers has systematically weakened the power of the deans at Harvard, in several instances by appointing deans whom he expected to be compliant. Barry Bloom appears to fit this description.
I interviewed Bloom for the book, and thought him a courteous, sincere, and thoughtful man who was passionate about the cause of public health. Sadly, his desire to retain the deanship appears to have superceded the better angels of his nature.
