Where are the University Presidents?
That's the question PBS reporter John Merrow asks in the Christian Science Monitor. Name the presidents of any three American colleges or universities, Merrow challenges readers.
Go ahead...
Concludes Merrow:
How could the public know the names of higher education leaders, who are largely silent on the great issues of the day? Today's presidents only get noticed if they say something outrageous (Harvard's Lawrence Summers's comments about women and science), live too lavishly (former American University President Benjamin Ladner), or make millions (Lynn University's Donald Ross).It is yet another irony of President Summers' tenure that a man who was hired to put the role of university president back on the cultural map is now being used as an example of a president known for all the wrong reasons.
But then, President Summers has missed some obvious opportunities to speak out on issues of the day which would make sense for someone in his role: intelligent design, for example. But, as Merrow points out, only three university presidents have publicly spoken out against considering intelligent design as science: Cornell president Hunter Rawlings, University of Idaho President Timothy P. White, and University of Kansas Chancellor Bob Hemenway.
This is pathetic. Why hasn't Summers, who has made science the singular emphasis of his presidency, spoken out on this issue? Is it because he doesn't want to spark any more controversy? Or because somehow the issue is too obvious, and in his contrarian way, he thinks it's beneath him to talk about something so glaring?
Summers' spokesman, John Longbrake, pointed out not too long ago that Summers had addressed a Harvard club audience on the subject of intelligent design. But that's preaching to the converted, as it were.
It's too late now—the tide seems to be turning against intelligent design. But it is unfortunate that, back when Summers' words might have meant something, the Harvard president stayed mysteriously silent.
