Shots In The Dark: A First Move for Faust

Thursday, February 22, 2024

A First Move for Faust

The Crimson reports that Drew Faust has asked Steve Hyman to stay on as provost.

Interesting.

What does this mean? Here are some possibilities.

1) Sometimes a rose is just a rose: Faust, like others around campus, thinks that Hyman is doing a good job and sees no reason to cast him off just because he wanted to be president

2) Faust knows that she needs to build support with the scientists and thinks this is a good way to start doing so

3) The Corporation wanted Faust to keep Hyman, and since she has been angling for the job for years, she played along

4) Drew Faust is a very secure woman, strong enough to retain a former rival

5) Drew Faust is a placeholder president, which is what the Corporation wanted

Take it from here, folks.

¶ 8:15 AM

Comments:

Not a good first move. There are big complaints in the faculty about Hyman and his bureaucracy, as the Crimson reports. If Faust is supposed to mend the relations with FAS, then she is not off to a good start.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 1:18 PM

"Faculty" does not equal "FAS." Perhaps the members of FAS should shut up for once and let the president do her job--for the good of the entire university.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 1:37 PM

I disagree with 1:18, and think it's a great choice, for Richard's reasons 1) knows his round FAS, 2) knows Allston, and 4). Bloated bureaucracies have to be watched it's true, but Neil Rudenstine's presidency saw as much as any. So, 1:37, I refuse to shut up!

# posted by Richard Thomas : February 22, 2024 2:33 PM

Anon 1:37PM has nailed it, especially since Anon 1:18 offers something of a Freudian slip with his or her comments: Do the FAS faculty have a problem with authority and leadership in general, or did they just have a problem with Summers, which is what one is led to believe?

Maybe the FAS faculty need to demonstrate that they can work with Faust rather than the other way around.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 6:04 PM

So just how does the money machine work at the tubs. Doen't a dean make the spending allocations? And, isn't that position open at FAS at the moment? And wasn't Faust offered that job first (by Larry)? And wouldn't it be prudent to keep mum about the new president who'll appoint your new dean (who reviews your budget and might give you what you want) until after you get your money? Are these people just plain dumb or extra dumb at FAS?

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 7:06 PM

King of Kings, Queen of Queens.

Hyman has been running Harvard for five years, and will continue to do so. He is a smart man for sure.

"Under Hyman, the provost’s office has more than doubled in size. When he was appointed in 2001, Hyman oversaw five administrators; the office now includes a senior vice provost, three vice provosts, two senior associate provosts, three associate provosts, an assistant provost, and a deputy provost. "

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 7:40 PM

These are all good possibilities. As you say it's a first move. In Presidential chess, as with chess, each move conditions future possible moves. Unlike with chess, however, future possible moves, and the very rules of the game, are also conditioned by the politics of the moment. In general Presidents start with more political capital than they end, the rate of political capital depletion --i.e. the length of the honeymoon-- is to a very limited extent controlled by the President. So let's sit back, relax and watch these Presidential games begin.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 9:11 PM

It's infinitely more complicated than Chess. More like a Chess tournament where the Chessmaster is playing 27 games simultaneously... And the possible moves in each game are conditioned by the moves of the players in all games. No wonder some have gone bonkers at this game.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 9:13 PM

I don't know about FAS, but I do know that the Provost's bureaucracy grew beyond any reasonable bounds. Contrary to the early post, the central administration did not grow net under Rudenstine, started to grow under Summers (despite his claims to the contrary), and was trimmed back for a while only under Ann Berman. But then all hell broke loose and Summers gave away the store.
Summers brought in Management consultants from McKinsey, who looked at other universities, and said the Provost should have more power and more staff. No appreciation that Harvard's Provost's office can never have the same authority as in other universities.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 9:21 PM

No net gain in administrative growth under Rudenstine? That would be unique in US higher education for the period, as for the last 40 years. No VP's created, e.g.? It will be up to Faust to counter what Summers did-which was out of control- and to make Hyman stay within his means. We'll see how that goes.

# posted by Anonymous : February 22, 2024 10:36 PM

Faust is a placeholder president? Interesting. She is 59 years old, which is about ten years older than the standard age for a university president chosen to serve ten years. (Bok is, I think, 74 or perhaps 75 right now, and his schedule is a reduced one.) Not that that's a rule--obviously, she could serve past 69 if she herself and TPTB thought it would work--but based on historical precedent, that ought to be unlikely. Therefore, another presidential search before 10 years are up?... Whew.

That said, she can't be a placeholder; too much to do. A placeholder wouldn't be dealing with Allston and a science complex and other major Issues of the Institution.

# posted by Anonymous : February 23, 2024 3:02 AM

To 10:36. Yes, there was probably a lot of expansion of administration in FAS and the other schools, but not much in the central administration until Summers. (The VPs were added under Bok the First.) One reason that the center did not expand so much is that the FAS Resources committee with people like Jorgenson and King kept after Mass Hall. In the meantime,FAS grew and grew. How we do love the administration? Let me count the deans...

# posted by Anonymous : February 23, 2024 9:14 AM

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