Common Sense
A letter to the Crimson from Argentina makes a point that I haven't heard yet but that is so important, it cries out to be emphasized:
To the rest of the world, Harvard stands for values greater than just academic excellence. Your editorial seems to suggest that because Dr. Summers could get a much-needed job done faster and better than anyone else, values such as personal dignity and civilized behavior are secondary. Allow me to suggest that, as future leaders of the nation, you reconsider your own values.
It is gracious of the writer to concede that Summers could get the job done "faster and better than anyone else"—the evidence clearly doesn't support that—but even assuming it's true, his eloquent point remains.
Harvard students are smart and they will certainly, as their lives go on, become successful and influential. All the more reason, then, that they carry along with them the values of civility, decency, humility, and fairness—values that were conspicuously lacking in Larry Summers' leadership. Harvard alums need not just be rich people, powerful people—they must also be
good people. As opposed to, say, Andrei Shleifer, whose behavior was appalling, but who was protected and promoted by Harvard's president.
These are intangible things, but in the long run, they may actually be more important than having a president who goes to pizza breaks and autographs dollar bills.
