You are right that the next President should be chosen for the right reasons, and those are addressing the serious problems facing Harvard. It could well be that a woman is the most qualified person to do this.

Students have prepared a report outlining what some of those problems are. A nice summary of Summers' legacy. See article below for a summary of the report.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516537
 

Interesting. Is the position paper itself online?
 

Here is text from the Crimson article, and color commentary interpreting what the underlying issues might be:

The Business School’s recommendation called for “elevating the teaching level in the classroom,”

THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AT HBS SUCKS. NO WONDER THE SCHOOL IS GOING DOWN IN THE RATINGS. WHAT ARE THE TRENDS IN APPLICATION NUMBERS. DEAN APPOINTED BY LHS. PERHAPS QUALIITY OF TEACHING WILL IMPROVE WITH LHS JOINING THE FACULTY THERE.

while the Kennedy School of Government is in need of a “good fundraiser,” according to its representatives.

KSG FINANCES SUCK. BUDGET CUTS UNDERMINE THE VIABILITY OF THE SCHOOL. DEAN APPOINTED BY LHS.


The Law School representatives wrote that “the ideal president will be committed to ensuring Harvard’s diverse and mutually cooperative environment of cooperation.”

NOT ENOUGH DIVERSITY AT HLS AND TOO MUCH CONFRONTATION. DEAN APPOINTED BY LHS.

Support for the Medical School’s new curriculum and cross-disciplinary opportunities were listed by Medical School representatives.

IN SPITE OF MUCH TALK ABOUT INTER UNIVERSITY INITIATIVES UNDER LHS THE CULTURE OF EVERY TUB ON ITS OWN BOTTOM STILL DOMINATES AT HARVARD. NEED A PRESIDENT WHO CAN REALLY INTEGRATE THE SILOS. PERHAPS LOOK TO MIT OR STANFORD.

Representatives from the School of Public Health called for a common calendar and cross-registration reform.

WHY ARE STUDENTS AT HSPH SO INTERESTED IN TAKING COURSES AT OTHER SCHOOLS? NOT ENOUGH THAT SATISFIES THEM OVER THERE?


Representatives from the School of Dental Medicine, which recently changed its curriculum, called for “optimal curricula at Harvard’s graduate schools.”

SOUNDS LIKE CONCERNS WITH THE QUALITY OF THE CURRICULUM.

Design School representatives wrote that “the ideal president will integrate the arts into Harvard’s mission...the school feels marginalized because its role is very different from other Harvard graduate schools, and the arts are not always seen as vital to Harvard’s mission.”

THIS IS A REAL LEGACY OF LHS, TOTAL DISREGARD FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES. FORMER DEAN AT GSD APPOINTED BY LHS. STUDENTS DON'T SOUND TOO HAPPY OVER THERE.

Divinity School representatives recommended “a better allocation of resources” between the schools.

WE ARE BROKE AT HDS, DOES ANYONE AT HARVARD CARE?

For the Education School, “increasing diversity is critical...many students will turn down Harvard because they do not believe it has a faculty diverse enough to meet their needs.”

ANOTHER GROUP OF STUDENTS REMARKING ON THE LACK OF DIVERSITY OF THE HARVARD FACULTY. ANOTHER DEAN APPOINTED BY LHS.

Extension School representatives called for increased scholarships and a president who will help build “inclusion and respect” for the school.

SOUNDS LIKE STUDENTS AT HES ARE SUGGESTING THAT THE QUALITY IS SECOND RATE AND THAT THEY FEEL LIKE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS IN THE UNIVERSITY.

These students' voices do not suggest that the quality of graduate education at Harvard is compatible with a premier university. Or perhaps it is just that Harvard selects extremely smart and demanding students who would be equally unsatisfied elsewhere.
 

Thanks for that. If you want to send me the report, I'd love to read it....(assuming that it's not online somewhere).
 

Here's a link to the report

http://www.hgc.harvard.edu/HGC%20Presidential%20Search%20Position%20Statement.pdf
 

So in other words anon 9:38, "blame Larry Summers?"
 

Indeed, what a completely hollow argument for choosing a female president. How does she not realize (as many women and minorities already have) that requesting anything more than fair and equal CONSIDERATION just plain looks bad?
 

10.51am: If not Summers, who? Hyman?

If student representatives from the professional schools issue a statement which conveys clear concern with the quality of their education is someone accountable? the students? the janitors perhaps?
 

Here's another way to solve the problem of students who are unsatisfied with the professional education they receive at Harvard.

Harvard should start selecting students who are clearly second rate, rather than the best applicants. This way students will be eternally grateful, less likely to complain, and very loyal future donors. Any Z-lists out there?
 

Do you mean like George Bush?
 

Nihil sub sole novum.

Harvard has been doing just what you describe for some time 12.25. And it is not altogether bad that a University that is tasked with educating the ruling class should give some affordances to the offspring of the ruling class. How do you think Harvard Rules?

On occasion, of course, Harvard also admits someone like the new governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, and may even invite someone like Cornel West to join the faculty. They provide the system a veneer of legitimacy that is convenient in a democracy.
 

Classism, elitism, Ayn Randism....we have it all here folks: the best demonstration of why a Harvard degree generally guarantees that one is both arrogant and a fool, albeit armed with a high IQ and plenty of built-in moneymaking advantages. Where is a great wind when you need one?
 

5:40 PM...how does that explain George Bush...I believe he went to Yale. We have here an arrogant fool without even a high I.Q. and terrible money making abilities...is that what they accept and teach at Yale?
 

George W. HBS '75

There's Lux et Veritas at Yale
At Harvard, it's not even clear there's much Veritas lately.
 

Who cares what students think about their education? And who cares what those of you on this blog think about Harvard.

Fortunately for Harvard it is governed by a corporation and a president who are among the smartest people in America.

Why don't you go back to write about comedy shows, movies or books and leave Harvard alone? No one gives much about your views on it. You might get to actually sell books if you focused on topics that interested a larger public.
 

I don't agree at all with the last poster, and I don't appreciate his/her anti-academic tone, but I do have a couple points to make which go contrary to some already made:
1. Z-listers are good for Harvard. For every moron whose parents donate $10,000,000 for him/her to get in, 50 students can go to Harvard for free. And I'm told that ten million dollars is about where the line is, provided the student can do the work at all. Harvard has come a long way since Yale admit George W., but it does need to sustain itself.
2. Students' opinions are not a perfect gauge of the quality of education being offered. They have no means of comparison with other schools, and their incentive is to get A's rather than to get educated. That said - some student feedback is necessary, but it can't be the sole source of data.
 

Let me ask you (Anon 9:38) this: Is Larry Summers to blame if a faculty member and his/her teaching fellows interact with their Extension School students like they're doing them a favor - more dismissive than engaging, and acting more contemptuous than respectful - is Larry Summers to blame, or the faculty member, DCE dean, etc.?
 

To 4.46, there's no easy answer to the question you pose.

On the surface, of course, there has to be accountability of faculty for the quality of instruction and if faculty abrogate their professional duties to their students they must of course be held accountable.

But there are departments at Harvard where there are conditions that make excellent teaching and advising almost natural, and others where this can only be achieved at great personal expense to faculty.

For example, in some departments in FAS, student-faculty ratios are very much in line with what they are in other research universities. Similarly teaching loads for faculty are adequate so faculty can indeed do what they are supposed to do in a research university: to research. In addition, adequate management provides faculty with the necessary support. Under those conditions there are many faculty members who teach well, students are engaged with minds who are also doing research, and with faculty who are personally and professionally satisfied because they work well and feel supported by their leaders. To a great extent this characterizes Bill Kirby's leadership. Incidentally LHS fired Kirrby.

In contrast, you may want to examine the conditions experienced by faculty at the Extension school. Student/faculty ratios, administrative support to faculty. If management at Extension school creates conditions that are truly second rate relative to the rest of Harvard it should not be surprising that many faculty there should feel unhappy, unsupported and, perhaps even exploited. This disatisfaction and these poor structural conditions will find expression in the quality of teaching and in the moral climate of the extension school.

So, while faculty members should indeed be held accountble for the quality of their teaching and advising, Deans and administrators, and certainly University Presidents, should also be held accountable for attending to the conditions that make it possible for faculty to provide excellent teaching. This is the reason these administrators are paid much more than faculty members.

If administrators can't do this, clearly they are unfit for the job.

It is interesting that while Harvard has clear measures of faculty effectiveness, there are not similar measures of administrator effectiveness. Consequently, while it is possible to detect early faculty who 'don't make the cut' and make sure that only the very best stay on, in the case of administrators only those whose incompetence leads to catastrophy --as with Summers-- are removed from the job.

Perhaps Harvard's overall quality would improve attending more to what administrators do --including Presidents and Deans-- and letting faculty do their work.
 

That there is a class of administrators who are Harvard's true mandarins is the dirty little secret of the place.

The number of these mandarins --and their underlings-- balooned under Summers, and so did their salaries.

Unlike students and faculty, who are held accountable to each other and for clear performance standards, these mandarins remain largely unaccountable and standards of performance are most unclear.
 

Of course the real problem is the way in which Harvard is funded, which makes some schools extremely dependent on income from tuition. This is the issue one should expect a capable president to address.
 

The number of applicants to several professional schools at Harvard has been consistently declining since Summers was President. There are now a few schools which admit just about anyone who applies.

ISN'T THIS AN ISSUE THAT A CAPABLE PRESIDENT OR PROVOST SHOULD LOOK INTO?
 

You can't blame Larry for the declining number of applications to the professional schools.

Students apply to programs because they find the quality of those programs attractive, because they admire and respect the research of the faculty teaching in those programs and because they know they will be in the company of challenging classmates. If some professional schools at Harvard don't meet these standards this is the responsibility of those Deans, who make faculty appointments and ovsersee academic programs, not Larry's.
 

but Deans serve at the pleasure of the President...

There is a simple way to ascertain whether Larry or the Deans caused the declines in application numbers to the professional schools. Look at the numbers this year. If Larry was the cause the numbers should be up since he resigned almost a year ago. If the numbers are still down something else must be at work...
 

interesting that application numbers are down in some professional schools, while students from those schools express concern over the quality of their education...