No one has mentioned how unbelievably awkward it will be for Summers to remain on campus as a University professor. Is this because no one thinks he will actually return to Harvard after his sabbatical? Or is it because the prospect of continuing to run into him is that impossibly discomfiting?
 

Will it? Quite frankly, Summers shouldn't be the one to feel awkward, but rather, it will likely be those who contributed to and/or forced his resignation: if there remain any number of individuals who - after a year's sabatical - actively maintain a grudge, seek out conflict, continue to offer up vitriol, or otherwise work to blackball Summers, then it'll be a pretty sad state of affairs... something out of a bad teen movie actually.
 

People will mention it, because it would inevitably be awkward. Even if the faculty bears him no active ill will, a lot of hard things have been said and done on both sides.

It's tough for a university president to stick around after leaving the post even when he/she has been successful and was well-liked. Derek Bok has walked a very fine line here, but it's taken a lot of work for him to do it. I think most presidents feel that it's appropriate to go somewhere else when they step down. (It's also immensely awkward for the successor to have the predecessor around.)

My guess on this: Larry demanded and got the title of university professor as a consolation prize. He also got a year's absence, which means, I expect, that he'll get a hefty salary for not showing his face on campus. (Shades of Schleifer.) I also suspect that he got the title because he does not have another job to go to right now, and it would be humiliating—even more so than this must have been for him already—for Summers to resign without having some position he can point to as his next move.
 

in terms of larger media presence, I couldn't help but notice that the resignation made the Drudge Report for only a couple hours before being replaced by the likes of "Mystery blob eating downtown Los Angeles..."

Is this evidence that the right-wing won't be making this a cause celebre? (Maybe they finally remembered that Summers is a Clinton-ite) Or is it just evidence that most of the media, outside your east coastal elite NY Times, etc, were already tired of the Harvard/Summers story?
 

I suspect Richard is right -- I can't imagine Summers coming back as a member of the faculty. This deal allows him some time to find another gig somewhere else. Does anyone really think he'd be happy as a member of FAS?
 

Excellent observation about the drudgereport. I've been wondering about that all day, and I wondered why it didn't make it sometime after the last faculty meeting. Part of me has even wondered if Drudge was intentionally ignoring so as not to draw attention--more bad press. It has to mean Drudge is a Summers fan. I've seldom seen links pulled from his lineup so fast.