Alison Richard Bows Out
Javier Hernandez and Daniel Schuker are on a roll: Today they report in the Crimson that, just hours after reporting that Alison Richard was a member of the search committee's final four, she issued a statement of non-interest.
“In the wake of media speculation, [Richard] reaffirms her deep and unequivocal commitment to the University of Cambridge and to completing the full term of her appointment, which ends in 2010,” the statement said. That marks a change from last month, when Richard’s office released a less definitively worded statement saying that she “does not consider herself a candidate for the presidency of Harvard.”
Given that Stanford's John Etchemendy has twice said that he is not interested in the Harvard job, we are left with Drew Faust and Elena Kagan.
I raised the issue a couple of days ago: What if potential candidates for the Harvard presidency who issue statements of non-interest actually mean it? Has the Harvard presidency lost its luster? And if so, does the ouster of Lawrence Summers have something to do with that fall from grace, or are there other factors in play?
Richard's exit raises another possibility: that whoever lands the presidency will be saddled with the perception that she (it certainly looks like a she, at this point) was chosen only after the most qualified outsiders all said no.....
So, folks, which should it be: Drew Faust or Elena Kagan?
I'm not promoting anyone—not that anyone would care if I did—but I continue to think that Faust's good relationship with much of FAS gives her an edge, while Kagan's bond with Larry Summers doesn't do her any favors.....
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P.S. The M-Bomb has a short list of her own, and it differs slightly from the Crimson's.
The Harvard insiders on the short list are the provost, Steven E. Hyman, a neuroscientist; the dean of the law school, Elena Kagan; and the dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Drew Gilpin Faust.Another top contender is Thomas R. Cech, a 1989 Nobel Prize recipient in chemistry who is president of the multi billion dollar Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the top philanthropies and research organizations in the world.
And here's another sign that perhaps Harvard's top job has lost some of its luster:
Harvard also has asked the president of Tufts University, Lawrence S. Bacow, to be interviewed, but he refused.
The president of Tufts stiffs Harvard.... Ouch.
John Etchemendy continues his string of denials:
"I'm quite convinced that there are stronger and far more appropriate candidates for this position," he said. "Stanford is my university, and I don't intend to leave."
One wishes that Etchemendy would just come out and say, "I don't want the job, and if offered it, I would not accept it." Because there's still some wiggle room in his statements.
And here is a final interesting tidbit—an important one, I'd say—from the M-Bomb:
[Thomas]
Cech's organization, Howard Hughes, is a wealthy behemoth that funds many of the biggest stars in scientific research. Its trustees include prominent members of the Harvard community, including Hanna H. Gray, a former Harvard Corporation member who championed Summers as president, and Jeremy R. Knowles, a powerful Harvard dean.
Hanna Gray
and Jeremy Knowles? That's a powerful combo. Gray, of course, was the driving force in the choice of Summers, so that doesn't exactly give her credibility. But Knowles is savvy and influential, and if he was touting Cech, one would have to think that would make a difference.....
