Monday, February 20, 2024
Of Larry and Google
I neglected to mention one point about Marcella Bombardieri's piece that struck me.
Bombardieri quotes an alum named Jack Corrigan who supports Summers and lists some of his accomplishments—the stem cell institute, free tuition for low-income families, and "a project with Google to digitize Harvard's library."
Couple thoughts about that last.
First of all, that initiative was supposed to be the doing of Harvard library director Sidney Verba. Now I guess we know who really made it happen.
Is it good for Harvard? Not particularly. Is it good for Google? Yes, incredibly good, to have Harvard sign on to a project that is hugely controversial, because many writers see it as the biggest threat to copyright protection in history.
So why would Summers okay the deal? (Or, perhaps, pressure Verba to okay it?) Could it have been because his former chief of staff at the Treasury Department, Sheryl Sandberg....
...is now a vice-president at Google, and happened to meet with Summers the same day she met with Sidney Verba? In another context, that would be called lobbying. But it's not as if Larry Summers ever spent any time in Washington.
Anyway, I'm sure the two visits were entirely coincidental....still, Mr. Corrigan, you might want to omit that particular "accomplishment" from your roster.
(It is interesting, though—that's such an odd thing for an alum to emphasize, it feels like a talking point....)
Bombardieri quotes an alum named Jack Corrigan who supports Summers and lists some of his accomplishments—the stem cell institute, free tuition for low-income families, and "a project with Google to digitize Harvard's library."
Couple thoughts about that last.
First of all, that initiative was supposed to be the doing of Harvard library director Sidney Verba. Now I guess we know who really made it happen.
Is it good for Harvard? Not particularly. Is it good for Google? Yes, incredibly good, to have Harvard sign on to a project that is hugely controversial, because many writers see it as the biggest threat to copyright protection in history.
So why would Summers okay the deal? (Or, perhaps, pressure Verba to okay it?) Could it have been because his former chief of staff at the Treasury Department, Sheryl Sandberg....
Anyway, I'm sure the two visits were entirely coincidental....still, Mr. Corrigan, you might want to omit that particular "accomplishment" from your roster.
(It is interesting, though—that's such an odd thing for an alum to emphasize, it feels like a talking point....)
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Richard, all I can say is thank you for your hard work. As someone who is (among other things) the spouse of an FAS member and the parent of a recent Harvard College graduate, I can say that the past 4+ years have been frustrating, embarrassing, and draining. I'm glad you haven't given up on the Google connection, not to mention the Shleifer mess. Thanks again.
Could you divulge anything about the amount of traffic you've been getting lately--how it compares to less interesting times at Harvard? I'm betting it's at all-time highs.
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