Protest at Harvard
Opponents of the military's ban on gays will stage
a protest today at Harvard over the university's decision to allow the military to recruit on campus. No surprise there. The question that strikes me as most interesting is, What will Larry Summers do?
“I think it would be great if Harvard, given its prestige in the country, were willing to take a public stand on these issues,” said Paul Butler, a Harvard alum, Vietnam vet, and chair of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus' task force on military issues.
That would, of course, be an appropriate role for President Summers. But Summers, thanks to his own troubles, has been keeping a low profile this fall. Plus, he's never shown much support for gay rights, and as I described in
Harvard Rules, he's been supportive of the return of ROTC to campus as part of a wave of post-9/11 jingoism. (Sorry, patriotism.)
Plus, Summers just can't stand student activism.
I think this would be an issue where the president of Harvard could and should speak as a national leader. But Summers' core constituency outside the university, the people who helped keep him in his job last spring, are conservatives who don't think much of gays. Would Summers risk alienating them?
I doubt it. Especially not for a group—two groups, really, gays and activists—which seem to make him uncomfortable.
