Marcella Bombardieri picks up the Larry Ellison story in today’s Globe, in which several Harvard officials speculate on what Ellison’s real motives for reneging on his proposed $115 million donation may have been.

No one seems to believe that Ellison is really so upset over Summers’ departure that it just wouldn’t be the same for him to pay up.

Writes Bombardieri:

Christopher Murray, the professor who would have run the institute, questioned Ellison’s statement that the gift was withdrawn because of Summers’s resignation .

“I am not sure what to make of Ellison’s remarks, as he was not willing to speak with Summers on this topic, despite repeated attempts,” Murray said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News yesterday. Murray also told the Globe last week that Harvard had not communicated directly with Ellison since last November, several months before Summers’s resignation.

InsideHigherEd.com has a piece that further emphasizes the point.

…Some other officials at Harvard say Ellison’s rationale for abandoning the gift don’t quite ring true, given how events unfolded in the more than two years since Harvard and Ellison reportedly began talking.

Bombardieri is the only writer I’ve seen who seems to realize that both sides in this ugly mess should just shut up.

Well, she doesn’t exactly put it that way.

Here’s what she says:

The failed deal is bad news for both sides, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “When people hear a gift’s been withdrawn, it’s not good for Harvard and it’s not good for Ellison,” she said. “People are always worried about their reputation as a good place to give.”

Translation: Both parties should just shut up.

Derek Bok has wisely kept his name out of these stories. But maybe it’s time for the president, or someone who works for him, to give Professor Murray a call and ask him to go away for the holiday weekend already.

In newspapers across the country, word is out that a huge donor to Harvard withdrew his money because he was unhappy about Summers’ departure. True or not, that isn’t a story you want to get around. It’s making Harvard look passive and whiny and jilted, not strong and self-confident. The quotes coming out of Harvard have a sore loser quality about them.

Here’s a tone that might work better: “We’re sorry that Mr. Ellison decided to make another choice, but we hope to work with him in the future, and meantime, we’re continuing our important work trying to stop the spread of disease in Africa.”

And, except maybe for the middle part, it has the advantage of actually being true…..

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P.S. Here’s a question, though: Why did Harvard actually start to set up the institute and hire staff even before the money had come through—especially given that Ellison has a history of shaky giving?