To Geek or not to Geek?
Here's this from the
Duke Chronicle:
When asked if he would ever consider leaving Duke to assume Harvard University's presidency, President Richard Brodhead had a simple response. "What a foolish question," he wrote in an e-mail. "I already have a great job."
"What a foolish question." I know Brodhead has made some serious mistakes regarding the rape scandal—frankly, who could have handled it perfectly?—but I do like the guy. He's an eloquent man.
Meanwhile, the Crimson continues its series on presidential prospects with this piece by Stephanie Garlow on Thomas Cech, the president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
(Incidentally, the Crimson calls him Thomas
R. Cech, but it's impossible to tell whether that's because he uses his middle initial or whether it's because the Crimson includes
everyone's middle initial—another reason why the paper should change that anachronistic and pompous policy. Does "Hanna H. Gray" use the
H, or is that just the Crimson? What about "David R. Liu '94"? A newspaper's style policy should clarify rather than confuse; this one does the latter. Middle initials should be included when the subjects use them, or when there is another, well-known person with the same first name and surname. Otherwise, it's not only pointless, it's introducing an error, actually
changing the person's name. Sorry—it's a pet peeve.)
There seems no doubt that Cech can run a science complex. But can he overcome his complete lack of Harvard connections? And the fact that he apparently owns only two suits?
Reading between the lines, Garlow's piece suggests that the Nobel Prize-winner is a bit of a science geek. (Which I use as a descriptive, but not judgmental, term.) Not a huge shock there, given his work.
Still...not to put too fine a point on it, but Harvard just had a geek as president, and there were some serious downsides to that. (Moreover, Derek Bok is showing that not being a geek—i.e., having social skills, being a good listener, being charming, and so on, can really boost one's leadership ability.)
But then, there are geeks who are socially inept and off-putting, and there are geeks who are kind of sweet and inspiring. Which kind is Cech? Is either really suitable? And will the university really experiment with a lab rat bred in the laboratories of Iowa's Grinnell College, U-Cal Berkeley, and MIT?
The suspense builds.....
