What Now for Larry Summers?
That's
the question Zachary M. Seward poses in today's Crimson, and it's the right one. The events of last winter and spring almost destroyed Summers' presidency. The question is, Did they permanently cripple it? Because five years in, Summers is, in a sense, starting from scratch or worse.
As Seward points out, Summers is taking some steps to broaden his outreach to women; five of the seven vice-presidents in his administration are female. (Why a university president needs seven "vice-presidents" is another question, but that's a different post.) You can be sure that when it comes to women, Summers won't make the same mistake twice.
Still, the Harvard president has had a difficult summer. Thanks to his old protege, economist Andre Shleiffer, Harvard has to pay the federal government a $27 million fine; Summers must also decide whether to allow Shleiffer, found guilty in a civil trial of defrauding the federal government, whether to remain on the faculty. Corporation member Conrad Harper resigned, calling upon Summers to do the same—both unprecedented public acts by a member of the Harvard Corporation. And Summers still can't find a replacement for investment manager Jack Meyer.
Meanwhile, the once much-vaunted curricular review stumbles toward the finish line like a horse with a broken leg.
And what's going on with that capital campaign, which was supposed to have begun by now?
To be sure, Summers did have some good news during the summer. The Broad Institute, which he helped found to study the human genome, made news with its analysis of the genetic composition of apes. And Summers announced the creation of an institute to study evolution, a project which will help counter the bizarre spread of creationist thought in American classrooms. That's the kind of thing the Harvard president should be spearheading.
As I said before, I don't think Summers will make the same mistake twice. But there's very much the question of whether he'll make some entirely new mistake. That's part of what makes Summers-watching so compelling: the tension between the truths of his personality and his need to play nice to promote his agenda and keep his job.
No one will work harder than Summers to reaffirm his power and get his presidency back on track; he is admirably dogged in this way. It will be fascinating to see how this year progresses.
