That’s the title of John Wolfson’s piece in Boston Magazine, which I just received in the mail. The powerful story tells of Larry Summer’s attempt to seize control of a $125 million grant to fight AIDS in Africa received by Phyllis Kanki, a researcher at the School of Public Health.

Here’s the nut graf:

“That set up a struggle that stretched over the first half of 2004, delaying crucial AIDS work for five months. Though this battle would get far less publicity than other Summers skirmishes—the odd fight he picked with the Afro-American studies profesor Cornel West, for example, or the contrvoersy he ignited with comments suggesting that genetics might explain the paucity of women in science—its ramifications would be infinitely more severe. The casualties would not be limited to the ego of a star academic or the march of social progress. The unversity denies it adamantly, but well-informed critics say the victims this time would be hundreds of impoverished, AIDS-stricken Africans who died waiting for Harvard to deliver the life-extending treatment it had been given public money to provide.” (Emphasis added.)

The mind reels.

As it does from the rationale provided by Harvard spokesman B.D. Colen, which—well, you’ll just have to read it for yourself. Let’s just say that Colen’s response is cynical, cavalier, and, frankly, cruel. (Or, if you’re feeling gentle, it’s just deeply ignorant.) It’s on page 116 of Wolfson’s story.

But really, you should read the entire article. Unfortunately, it’s not (yet?) online, so you might have to buy the magazine. It’s worth the $4.