Kagan is a smart politician. It would be a mistake of Faust to let this ambitious Dean stay on her team of Deans and allow her the opportunity to undermine Faust's presidency from the get go. The challenge is compounded because there is a real 'Summers camp' that will not take long to reorganize and challenge Faust.
 

The negative effect of having brought DC style politics to Harvard seems to linger...

Presidents James B. Conant, Nathan Pusey, Derek Bok and Neil Rudenstine were never a problem to their successors. There were no 'camps' out there to undermine whoever succeeded them. But of course, these were highly successful Presidents who retired after many achievements and who left Harvard a better University than they found it.

The story is obviously different with Summers whose agenda was truncated not by his own choice and who left no visible achievements and who left a much more embattled campus than they found it. This is unchartered territory for Harvard and for President Faust. She will have to be careful and to trust her adversaries at her peril.
 

Folks, is it possible that sometimes a rose is just a rose?
 

From a comment on this post:

... as a leading historian of antebellum sectional conflict in the United States, Drew Faust might be just the person to effectively manage the fractious politics of Harvard University.
 

Richard,
No offense intended, but the problem with blogs is that their authors have to respond on the spur of the moment to news about which they often have no expertise. Scholars are expected to know their subject, know what is not their subject, and express themselves in a considered fashion that will withstand the test of time. Blogging would get academics into bad habits. One can already see the problem with some academics who write regular columns in papers like the NYT.
 

What an appalling suggestion---that Drew should fire Elena because she will undermine her presidency. I find it incredible that someone would suggest this. The cynicism is amazing to me. The suggestion insults Elena, it insults Drew, it insults the institution. It says more about the poster than about any reality. Is everyone appointed by Summers in a "Summers camp?" What would be their advantage in reorganizing? To what purpose? And what would be their challenge to a new President? It seems to me the mood is to assume the best about Faust and work to support her presidency. Even at the world's most competitive university, most hope for the success, I would wager, of the new president of the university.
 

Richard,
I'm afraid, unfortunately, for some of these anonymous bloggers (and Larry haters), a rose will never be just a rose.
The comments of Anon 8:18 are just unbelievable (and uncalled for)...EK underminig Faust's Presidency!? Where do they dream up this nonsense.
By the way, as all those who graduated from Yale should know, it is loath, not loathe, in the context you used it.
Sam Spektor
 

Sam,

I loathe spelling mistakes, and I am loath to admit them, but sometimes, they happen, especially on those 7:28 AM posts...

I take the point about academics and blogs, but surely there is room for a scholarly blog that raises questions, spurs conversations, suggests reading and lines of inquiry, links to a scholar's areas of interest, invites questions, and so on. It's a different, but (I hope) not incompatible part of the brain.
 

"One can already see the problem with some academics who write regular columns in papers like the NYT."

This is a laughable claim, since Paul Krugman has been proven right about everything political he has said from the get-go, since late 2001 -- about the Executive Branch's incredible mendacity (first on budgets, then Iraq). I don't know enough economics to know if he's right about everything in his field, but I guarantee you that Daniel Okrent didn't either, and made a fool of himself with sneaky potshots like yours.

It's malletheaded morons like David Brooks, whose intellectual credentials consist in the ability to draw a line down a legal pad and sort people into two groups, that have used the New York Times to help lead the US into "problems" on a scale unsurpassed probably in the history of international relations. Anon 9:48, your readiness to sort people into two groups -- academics who are allowed to participate in politics; and everyone else, all the "real" Americans -- strongly suggests that you prefer Brooks's style of intellectual work (or, as I call it, 'crap').

If you have an argument to make against Krugman (and who else could you mean?) maybe you could post a link to it. If you believe the problems he has warned AGAINST are somehow less important than problems he has created (and God knows what those might be), say so, and why. Otherwise, spare us the insinuations of your slithery pie-hole.

Cheerfully,
Standing Eagle


PS. Also, if you would, explain why Bill Kristol, Dinesh D'Souza, and the like are allowed to station themselves as anti-intellectual fifth columnists within academia, but academics aren't allowed to penetrate the world of punditry. What a preposterous double standard -- as if being a fake historian or political scientist were better than being a real one. (Your larger point about academics needing to be slow to judge the meanings of events is well taken, though: I was privy to many academic conversations after 9/11 that predicted it would result in a major ebbing of nationalism in the US. Nice call, Cultural Studies experts.)
 

"Surely there is room for a scholarly blog that raises questions, spurs conversations, suggests reading and lines of inquiry, links to a scholar's areas of interest, invites questions, and so on."

Heard of Brad DeLong? He does this stuff with verve -- has done for years -- and dovetails the blog with his teaching.

Standing Eagle
 

Of course Drew has to keep all of those appointed by Larry in place and try to work with them. They all have the best interest at heart and are more experienced than she is governing Harvard. She should in fact ask Larry to advise her on general issues of governance, faculty relations and public speaking.
 

"but the problem with blogs is that their authors have to respond on the spur of the moment to news about which they often have no expertise. "

Not too different from higher education administration. How many times did President Summers make decisions on matters about which he had no expertise? Perhaps blogging is a good way to develop skills useful for higher education management. Is this the reason some senior Harvard administrators read and write in this blog?
 

"Incidentally, has anyone yet found a single FAS professor who blogs? At an institution that's supposed to be on the cutting edge, how can it be possible that out of 700 or so scholars, not one has a blog?"

As noted by commenters before, there are at least two FAS bloggers:

Greg Mankiw
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/

Lubos Motl
http://motls.blogspot.com/
 

Standing Eagle,

You don't know enough economics? What was the John Bates Clark medal for then?
 

Anon 8:06 --

Eh?

Standing Eagle
 

1. Am I right that when Summers was chosen, the vote was reported to be unanimous, and there has not been any simiar report for the vote on Faust?
2. Is it now known that Cech was actually offered the job, or was merely grandstanding?
 

Anonymous 1:29 am --
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516974

headline alone answers your first question...
 

Elena Kagan may have started a trend here. Expect 'spontaneous' parties of support to the Deans of other schools in the months ahead. Perhaps even a party of support for the Provost.
 

support parties signal weakness.
 

Your mom signals weakness.
 

hey 6:45

pog ma thoin
 

Isn't Kagan on the one hand just like Summers, sucking up to the students, but smarter than Summers, realized giving her prima donna faculty whatever they wanted was also the way to go. Good thing she stays up there in the Law Quad.

And 8:44 has it right on 6:45
 

Telling someone, anonymously, to kiss your ass doesn't carry a whole lot of weight.
 

when they say stuff about your mother (behind the veil of secrecy) you can say anything you want and in any language you want- what school yard did play in?
 

Your mom's school yard.
 

wanker!
 

Pog ma thoin is Irish for K.M.A.

Any Irish senior administrator at Harvard appointed by Larry reading this blog?
 

any rednecks affraid of Faust? She will find you...
 

Irish administrators at Harvard appointed by Larry-what are you kidding?

Oíche mhaith; ádh mór ort!
 

The O'Brien factor is the ref. I believe, and sounds pretty Irish to me.
 

Yes Larry did make some pretty bad appointments, among them some Deans less skilled than a good receptionist, but Elena Kagan was not at the top of that list. He made his worse appointments towards the end of his term when he could not find good people who would work with him.

8:44 pm Kusch Mein Eisl!

--Standing Eagle
 

It should be expected that President Faust may want to replace some of the Deans appointed by President Summers. However, the decision as to which ones to replace should be made on a case by case basis and based on their performance, and not just because they were appointed by her predecessor.


As one of Harvard's 15 Deans, Faust has already a pretty good idea of the relative degree of competency exhibited by her peers at the Council. She also knows many faculty in the University and knows from experience what to look for in the various reports Deans present to the President and Corporation. She will be able to ascertain where there are serious problems and where things are working well. Since the Corporation also knows which are the Schools where there are problems, we can expect that decisions about leadership replacements will not be made by the new President alone.

The Corporation has been aware of a few Schools where replacements were necessary but, understandably, postponed action there until the more urgent matter of selecting the President could be settled.
 

O'Brien is Irish-American not Irish-big difference. But I gather you yanks wouldn't understand the nuances.