Yale in China…not Harvard?
Posted on May 14th, 2006 in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Rather quietlyâwhich is exactly the style of Yale president Rick LevinâYale appears to be beating out Harvard for influence in China.
That, at least, is the suggestion of Marcella Bombardieri in today’s Globe…..
Given the contrasting styles of Levin and Larry Summers, this is an interesting conclusion. Levin may be the quietest, least-known president of Yale in the last 100 years; the same could not be said of Summers at Harvard.
Of course, the comparison isn’t really fair, given that Levin has been president of Yale since 1993 and Summers has been at Harvard only since 2001, and of course no one would say that Summers has not paid enormous attention to globalization.
I just raise it as part of a larger question about the efficacy of various leadership stylesâsomething I’d like to see, oh, the Harvard Business Review do a comparative case study on.
6 Responses
5/14/2006 1:11 pm
If the comparison isn’t really fair, then why make it, unless you’re striving to be provocative just for the sake of provocation… which when you think about it, might be suggested of the Globe piece as well?
That being said, and continuing on a bit with this tangent: to you get the sense that any number of parties have been increasing in their provocation of Summers in the lead-up to Harvard’s Commencement? If people are looking to bait Larry into saying something, well… controversial at Commencement, they’re certainly doing their part to throw chum into the water.
5/14/2006 2:23 pm
I know that increasing collaboration may indeed facilitate the goal of further opening China-yet there is plenty to be wary about here. I’m hesitant to assist with the legitimization of a regime that makes no effort to address their role in the widespread quashing of individual rights-and I don’t want to hear any low-rent comparisons with US abuses, please. With China, proceed with all deliberate speed. Yale, have at it.
5/14/2006 4:25 pm
I don’t think that I and/or the Globe are trying to be provocative just for the sake of it (not that—on a blog, at least—there’s anything wrong with that). But I do think it was interesting to hear that Yale is apparently leading in this regard when Harvard has gotten so much publicity for it in the past few years. I wonder what Bill Kirby would say on this subject.
Are people trying to bait Larry? I have no idea. Be curious to hear what the chum in question is.
5/19/2006 11:27 pm
I thought China was where they were shipping Kirby …
5/22/2006 7:56 pm
Yale has a long connection to China, back to the 1850s, when the first Chinese students to study at colleges in the West came to Yale. I don’t recall the details, but I heard about this from a former roommate who was a great (great?) grandson of one of these students or a nephew of one of the students. I bet you could google it. Anyway, I suspect that Yale is playing that card
5/22/2006 8:00 pm
(Last anonymous): I see that the Globe mentioned the Yale ties. Oh well, post first, read later.