In the Globe, Marcella Bombardieri reports on a letter critical of Larry Summers circulating through some Harvard offices.

The author of the letter is former Colorado senator Tim Wirth, a Harvard alum; he graduated from the college in 1961 and received a master’s degree from the school of education in 1965.

In the letter, which is addressed to Corporation senior fellow Jamie Houghton, Wirth praises a public attack on intelligent design delivered by Cornell president Hunter Rawlings. Harvard’s president should have the same public profile, Wirth says. “Unhappily, I fear that President Summers is so damaged that a Harvard statement and position might be lost, or might be reported only along with a further recitation of his woes.”

(Which is, I think, an accurate prediction.)

Wirth doesn’t explicitly call for Summers’ resignation, but he clearly implies that Summers’ exit would be the best way for Harvard to retake the leadership status that “the world…has come to expect.”

John Longbrake, Summers’ spokesman, dodges the larger issue by saying that Summers has spoken out against intelligent design, “as recently as November 12 at a large gathering in New York City.” A speech [presumably] at the Harvard Club was not exactly what Wirth had in mind.

An irony of this situation is that the Harvard Corporation chose Larry Summers precisely for the role Wirth envisions of the Harvard president. But some of Summers’ public statements on matters of public debate have been so hamhanded that he is now effectively gagged.

Wirth is a former senator, so it will be hard for Mass Hall to discredit him. (It would if it could.) The question is now, will other alums follow Wirth’s lead? And what kind of impact will Wirth’s letter and similar sentiments have on Harvard fundraising?
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* Thanks to the poster below who reminded me of Bombardieri’s piece.