Because FAS has been such a factor in Summers' debacle, it only makes sense to have a Harvard grad be president. That would be best to calm the waters....
 

That is, of course, a Harvard tradition...

(I'm assuming, by the way, that when you write "Harvard grad," you really mean "Harvard College grad.")
 

On another topic--that of Andrei Shleifer--I was under the impression that he was on leave this year while an ethics investigation into his double dealing in Russia drags on. Imagine my surprise when my daughter told me that he is lecturing in her Social Analysis 10 class this semester--guess the ethics investigation is over??
 

To add to the previous poster, he also gave a lecture to some b-school faculty last semester and has been assisting b-school students this year in at least one project. His faculty webpage says he is on leave, but he is certainly around the school a lot and no one seems too embarassed...
 

Larry Summers' pet projects:
I heard today from a friend who teaches in the math department that several members of the department were chagrined when Summers (who reportedly wanted to study math as an undergrad at MIT, but discovered he wasn't good enough at it) decided to ignore the department's recommendation for new hires in favor of opening a new interdisciplinary pet project called the "Program for Evolutionary Dynamics." If you go to that website, it is truly fascinating....The program is described this way:
"The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was established in 2003 by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers following an imaginative proposal by Jeffrey Epstein and Benedict Gross. The center operates under the auspices of William Kirby, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Martin Nowak, Professor of Mathematics and Biology, is the director."

And the faculty (beside Nowak himself, of course):

Alan Dershowitz (with heretofore unheralded mathematical expertise)
Drew Fudenberg (economist, rabid Summers defender)
Eric Lander (Summers beneficiary)
and, naturally,
the #1 pal, Steve Pinker.

An example of a half-baked, wildly expensive, now impossible-to-eradicate initiative that was not supported by the department that the program was foisted upon...and will remain as Summers' legacy. This is the kind of thing the Crimson should be reporting on. Where is Zach Seward when we need him?
 

Richard, An idea, a variation on something you mentioned but did not follow up on. Revive the top ten posts or at least some of the more substantive posts that appeared during the weeks immediately before and after the Summers resignation. There were a lot of smart posts, but most got lost in the fog (e.g. the flap about the Crimson). Some of this stuff can be found nowhere else. Even some of your comments are worthy highlighting.