A Variety of Odd Statements Okay, I'll rise to the bait. I can't help but respond to Larry Summers' comments about me in the Commencement issue of the Crimson. (Isn't that what a blog is for?)

Here's what interviewer Sam Teller asked him and what Summers answered:


ST: I hate to give him the satisfaction of getting mentioned in this interview, but Richard Bradley has made a small career doing what he might call watching out for Harvard, but what in effect amounts to preying on you for controversy to sell books. He says you’ve met three times, but have never actually spoken. Do you recall ever meeting him? Can you divine the source of his vendetta against you?

LHS: Met-without-speaking is an odd concept. I’m told there are a variety of odd statements in his writings, but frankly I don’t follow them. I try not to speculate on the motives of others.

Ouch!

Let's just clarify a couple of things, though.

Met-without-speaking is an odd concept, indeed, but I think President Summers knows exactly what I was referring to: As I told Sam back when he interviewed me for "15 Questions," I have three times shaken hands with Larry Summers and introduced myself, and each time he grunted or was otherwise silent and walked away.

So it's worth noting that, in classic Washington fashion, Summers doesn't actually answer the question.

Instead, he slips in a sideways smear—"I'm told there are a variety of odd statements in his writings"—that really is beneath a Harvard president. (Even an outgoing one.) While suggesting that he hasn't read my Harvard-related work, Summers denigrates it—without actually going into specifics. (Sam, that would have been a nice follow-up.)

All I can say is that I have requested to interview President Summers quite a few times and given him ample opportunity to respond to anything I planned to write, and never once has he or anyone working for him challenged any specific point of my reporting.

But I've been critical of Summers in my book and elsewhere, so I don't really begrudge him a parting shot at me. What perturbs me more is Sam Teller's suggestion that I have a "vendetta" against Summers. Sam, that's crazy talk. In my book, this blog, and in a couple of articles I've done for Boston Magazine, I've called 'em as I saw 'em. Of course, I welcome constructive criticism, and when I make mistakes, I correct them. But time and events seem to have borne out my reporting.

As for "preying on controversy" to sell books...well, it may have worked out that Harvard Rules happened to come out during the women-in-science controversy, and has benefitted from the controversy that President Summers ignites from time to time. But I can assure you that when I began the project of writing a book about a university and its president, controversy was the farthest thing from my mind. In fact, I was very much hoping to do a book that was less controversial than my first.

As to trying to sell books...I plead guilty. Such is life.

Now, why might Sam Teller say such unkind things about me? Perhaps because he's sucking up to Summers throughout the interview. (Sample question: "How did it feel to be greeted by a throng of supportive, cheering students as you walked out of your office on the day of your resignation?" Larry King couldn't top that.)

Perhaps because I blasted him on this blog not too long ago. Not that he discloses this in the Crimson.....  ¶ 12:49 PM