What It Means
The Skocpol appointment is a good sign for glasnost at Harvard. She's an impressive scholar—I read her excellent
States and Social Revolutions in a political science course at Yale—but more relevant here, she's tough and unafraid to speak her mind. At the same time, she's reasonable; even as she criticized Summers, Skocpol was looking for ways to break the impasse. Like the most constructive figures in the pro- and anti-Summers debate, she cares about the institution of Harvard. So, some thoughts.
1) Obviously, the fact that Skocpol is a woman was a factor in her choice.
2) Let us hope that she is not coopted by her new power. (Although, truth be told, the dean of the GSAS is low on the decanal totem pole, in terms of power if not prestige.)
3) FAS dean Bill Kirby made the appointment, but what does Larry Summers think about it? In the past, he would never have allowed the promotion of even a moderate critic of his rule. Is he now conceding that he can't block the appointment? Did he endorse the elevation of a moderate as a bridge-building gesture? Or did Bill Kirby show unexpected independence from Mass Hall and appoint Skocpol regardless of Summers' feelings?
4) It's interesting to see how this story is being covered. (And that it's being covered at all, given that this is a fairly arcane appointment, in terms of the non-academic world.) Here's the AP story and hed, as run in Alabama's Tuscaloosa News: "
Critic of Summers Appointed to Key Harvard Graduate Post."
Fascinating to think that the editor of the Tuscaloosa News really thinks his readers care about who gets named dean of the graduate school at Harvard. More evidence that Larry Summers remains hot, hot, hot!
