Shots In The Dark: Drew Faust in the Herald

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Drew Faust in the Herald

The Boston Herald runs an Associated Press piece on Drew Faust and "the delicate balance of inspiration, ego-boosting and cocktail-party cajoling it takes to get Harvard’s 11 colleges and institutes and its 24,000 employees on the same page."

Faust apparently cooperated with the piece, which is odd, because she has turned down requests from Harvard Magazine and 02138, two outlets with Harvard constituencies, but now speaks to a wire service reporter.

"You have to [lead] in somewhat indirect ways because you have to bring everyone along with you," Faust said in a recent interview with The Associated Press, contemplating the "peculiar nature" of colleges.

"That challenge of movement and collaboration and to keep those things together is, I think, at the heart of every university presidency."

There's not much news in the piece other than the revelation that Faust "plans to start a major program to improve theater and visual arts on campus."

In fact, it doesn't sound like the reporter got a lot of time with Faust; Steve Hyman is quoted more than she is. One wonders if that is reflective of anything.

¶ 9:28 AM

Comments:

Indirection and murky indecision sounds like Bill Kirby, another recipe for disaster.

# posted by Anonymous : May 15, 2007 11:07 AM

Well, wasn't there a remark several months ago as to why the Herald and not the Globe was getting stories? Is there a different focus with press relations and outreach? The Herald is conservative and the Globe is liberal-is there anything there?

Why the AP versus in-house-broadcast versus internal mouthpiece?

Who is Harvard trying to reach or put in another way-are the usual suspects not getting first crack at the story because of....well fill in the blank.

AP stringers are an important piece of the political establishment in getting information out-perhaps Stone is actually being allowed to do his job-just a thought.

# posted by Anonymous : May 15, 2007 12:25 PM

I've done this before - started 'my' own thread of an existing thread, and it isn't even my blog to begin with, so apologies to Richard - but so many of the readers and posters of this blog are professors, and Boston-area professors too; and I wanted to pay homage to the Bachevich family of B.U. The father is prominent, of course, as a writer and lecturer on military affairs especially our tragic war in Iraq; and his son, a B.U. graduate, is a young Army lieutenant killed by an IED two days ago. Every death is important, and for four years I've attributed every single one to George W's recklessness, hubris and incompetence, but this one will hit home for many of us, I feel, whether we know the family or not (I don't). In the scheme of the University I'm not important enough for my name to mean anything to anyone, but I thought this would be a way of expressing solidarity that others of Richard's readers could sign on to.

# posted by eadw : May 15, 2007 3:07 PM

That's a nice post, EADW. Thanks for writing it. If you come across any more information, don't hesitate to put it up...

# posted by Richard Bradley : May 15, 2007 3:47 PM

Why the AP versus in-house-broadcast versus internal mouthpiece?

AP provides access to a much larger and more diverse audience than 02138 or Harvard Magazine, period.

# posted by Anonymous : May 15, 2007 9:32 PM

9:32 pm

That was exactly the point - perhaps rhetorical but then again isn't that the exercise?

# posted by Anonymous : May 15, 2007 11:54 PM

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