Nan Keohane is in charge
 

This is an excellent move. An indication that Faust and those advising her are well aware of the serious problems created by the terror regime of LHS-SH. You bet she is reducing Steve's influence. Odd that Clayton Spencer is on the group selecting the candidates. Very good that AB is back, she knows a lot about what went on in the past. It would be excellent if Nan K. were helping Drew.
 

Audit all the way! Expose all the wrongdoing and hold those responsible accountable to the full extent of the law.
 

The six options you mention are not mutually exclusive. There may be some validity in all of them, except those suggesting that Larry is in charge or that this indicates a diminution in Drew's power.
 

Didn't this blog discuss the audit two weeks ago- the Sunday that the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

Why are we on that again?
 

I agree: odd that Clayton Spencer is on the group selecting the candidates. She's a viper.
 

Viper or not, she was the brain behind many decisions for which LHS was blamed. Much of the caos of the last few years was of her making.
 

CS appointed the Dean in the Education School.
 

Hey, Anon 2:03, could you rephrase in a less vituperative (wordplay intended) and more specific way? Just so we don't deteriorate into name-calling....
 

What were some of the things (specifically) that Clayton Spencer was to blame for?
 

Richard:

Just a question - how many of the Harvard people that you write about daily have you:

met
talked with om a regular basis
worked with
had lunch/dinner with

Basically, what's the big deal btw you and this place?

The place is like one big theme park-haunted houses, witches and witchhunts, house of mirrors, silly games and rides.

Can anyone actually say how the place makes a meaningful/quantifiable impact in the world? Leave the medical school and the hospitals out of the conversation-let's focus on FAS.

PS. Standing Eagle can stand down on this - I am interested in Richard's answer not the faculty.
 

Yes, Richard, what explains your obsession with Harvard? What is there in your experience with the place that was so traumatic to cause you to fixate on it? Why don't you write about something else?
 

It is not your views on Harvard, Richard, which are problematic, but those of the anonymous writers on this blog. Why don't you require that people sign their names so that we can ascertain whether they are credible sources? You could institute a simple policy only with regard to postings about Harvard, delete everything that is not signed. This would elevate considerably the quality of this blog. After all you yourself sign your own contributions, don't you?
 

How sweet the last three posters, aren't they? why not require that all entries about Harvard be first cleared with the University News Office, as with the Crimson?
 

Hey 6.41, what's your beef with FAS? Impact is the business of the professional schools, not of FAS, why not examine what impact these schools have first?
 

C'monn Richard, spill it out, you get a certain kick at reading these entries exposing all the misery of the place where you suffered so much... did you get to graduate?
 

6:41 and 8:46 are strange animals. They waste their time going onto a blog they think should not exist. 8:49 is stranger yet, coming on anonymously to urge that Richard 'delete everything that is not signed'. Huh?

By the way nobody has replied to anon 3:14 or Richard 3:09. I think Clayton Spencer performed very well in difficult circumstances even before 7/1/06, so let's drop the anonymous "viper" stuff unless there is substance after that date.
 

All this advice about closing this blog is indicative of how important it is.

Until recently, only the Harvard mandarins could obtain information from multiple sources at Harvard, integrate it, and decide behind closed doors how to use it.

Since this blog exists, it is possible for people in multiple places at Harvard to post information, for all to see, and for anyone to integrate as they wish.

It's even better than the regular press because there isn't a singular editorial point of view.

There are of course problems with how much trust to place on a single entry. The Wikipedia problem in a sense. But if one looks for patterns and general themes, rather than for the validity of single entries, it's a pretty powerful tool.

So powerful, in fact, that it has destabilized the usual information order of things at Harvard.

I would not be surprised to see a backlash against this blog, as in attempts to have it shut down.
 

It is well known that blogs are changing democracy in America. They are a vehicle for grassroots communication and empowerment of insufficiently understood potential to alter traditional power structures. Think of the role they are playing in political campaigns.

Blog analysis is also used to gather intelligence in a number of fields.

Could blogs have prevented the collapse of Wall Street or the Mutual Fund Scandals? What impact will they have in how Universities, the Media and other institutions conduct their business?

These are all open questions, the answers to which are been played out day to day, also on this blog and in it's effects.
 

With those earlier posts I sense a palpable desire to change the subject...
 

Yes, pleaaaase. Give Harvard and her Presidents, new and old, a break. A loooooong break.

Time to turn the page and change the subject, there are more important things in the world to talk about.
 

These aren't the droids you're looking for...
 

I was looking for protocol droids
C-3PO
 

Time to create the Confederacy of Independent Harvard Schools?
 

Not all of us are servile.
IG-88
 

Oh snap! Wall Street collapsed?

I gotta watch more CNN I guess.

SE
 

Looks like all of the smoke and mirrors has proved successful. The thread has drifted off course. Nice job, MH.
 

SE

Short!

LOL
 

too late to add a comment on Clayton Spencer? maybe, but i agree with those who think that she ought to have been purged right after Larry Summers. she carried out nasty stuff on his behalf all the time. people in mass hall call her the "enabler". she spread rumors about individual faculty or students with whom Larry had a beef. she called journalists and told them lies about harvard and fas specifically to make Larry look better. she wrote dishonest speeches that Larry then delivered. she knew they were dishonest. she intimidated people like the former dean of GSE so that she would not say anything bad about Larry when she resigned. i've even heard from pretty reliable sources (though can't confirm from personal experience) that she spied on opponents of Summers. this last may be wrong but it shows what mass hall people think of her. harvard needs to cleanse itself of the likes of Clayton Spencer. with her dubious skills, she'll be able to find a job easily in DC, the city where she learned how to be an enabler for bad guys.

from mass hall to you
 

Wow.
 

Anyone else want to comment on the above?
 

Sounds like someone has an axe or two to grind over at Mass Hall.
 

Hey 3.07pm, here's a question. You said of Spencer:

"she intimidated people like the former dean of GSE so that she would not say anything bad about Larry when she resigned. i've even heard from pretty reliable sources (though can't confirm from personal experience) that she spied on opponents of Summers."

Can you say more about how she intimidated Ellen Lagemann? I know Lagemann and she does not strike me as the kind of person that can be easily intimidated. Also, what could Lagemann possibly say about Summers that was negative?
 

I think you are confusing Clayton with her husband. She is not the expert on intelligence and terrorism in the fanmily.
 

That's a very serious accusation, to suggest that members of the President's staff would 'spy' on his opponents.

It would be a terrible thing if it had ever happened, but if it had happened with the knowledge of the President it would be a real tragedy.

Let's just hope you are making this up or are just not well informed.
 

7.58: I too know Lagemann and like you I would not have thought that she is easily intimidated. But it is true that she has never publicly said anything about why she was fired. That silence is certainly odd given how much she gave up to go to Harvard and all the hopes and plans she had for that job that would carry her til retirement. She even spent a fortune on a house on Brattle Street not the kind of move of someone taking a three year appointment.
 

Ellen Lagemann will have the last laugh, and soon.

Students and Faculty at the School of Education have planned a celebration in her honor on May 18th at 2pm in the Elliot Lyman Room, Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way.

At that celebration a portrait of Ellen Lagemann will be unveiled. Her remarks, tentatively titled 'Portraits of Leadership' will focus on her years as Dean of the School of Education and address specifically her relationship with Larry Summers.

It is expected that Drew Faust, Nan Keohane and Derek Bok will attend this celebration.

It has not yet been confirmed whether the EL Room will be renamed in her honor.
 

Looks like the Lagemann crowd is back on line. Renaming rooms, "expected" appearances of dignataries, and so forth!
 

Hello people! do you realize what all the people Drew has placed on the search committee for the new VP have in common? Together they have all the necessary knowledge to hang Larry by the b... They just need to agree to say what they know.

If there's a person tonight more than a little concerned about this committee and the odds that they will develop enough trust to proceed it's Larry.

What is half of infinity?
 

Right 9:39, but they are also all people who were unscrupulous enough to work with LS while he was in office. Do we trust them to choose a good VP? They aren't exactly the integrity brigade.
 

The Deans of the Law and Business Schools are on the committee, but who represents FAS in the absence of a FAS Dean? And will Summers be asked by the Crimson to review every move Faust makes? Wouldn't it be useful if the Corporation had made a condition of his staying on as University Professor that he not make himself available as the in-house second-guesser. (Wish the crimson reporter had pointed out the difference between Faust approach: announce a search, appoint a committee, and Summers' approach: begin interviewing for the position without soliciting any feedback)
 

While Clayton was certainly part of the so called LHS/SEH reign of terror, she is by no means the only 'political operative' working in Mass Hall. There is a whole cabal of them, and they are still in charge. Look at how LITTLE has changed, culturally and organizationally, since Larry left. The headless horseman continues to gallop through the institution, behaving pretty much exactly as it has for the last five years. Drew, don't get on! Hire people who can actually advance Harvard's mission, and can earn the respect of others for their capabilities and values. Political "strategery" is not the end game!