Cech Out
Posted on January 31st, 2007 in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
Thomas Cech has withdrawn his name from contention for the Harvard presidency, the Crimson reports. (Nice scoop, Stephanie Garlow!)
“Clearly it’s one of the great positions in academic leadership in the United States,” he said. “But I already have a great job,” he went on, noting that his post allows him to advance science education and biomedical research.
Well…the plot does thicken, doesn’t it? There are so many interesting questions ….why withdraw now? Why do so publicly? What does this mean if Drew Faust is chosen? Why are so many people saying no to Harvard? Why can’t the Corporation seem to do anything right?
I have some thoughts on the above, but I’d like to hear yours…..
11 Responses
1/31/2007 1:44 pm
Was it a Crimson scoop, or a Globe one? The Globe site mentions a phone conversattion with a Globe reporter.
1/31/2007 1:46 pm
Don’t see the Globe piece, but who posted first? Should be time-stamped, no?
1/31/2007 2:12 pm
the crimson had it by an hour: 10:26 to the globe’s 11:21.
here’s the globe link:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/leading_candida_1.html
1/31/2007 2:31 pm
Is it really a scoop if it’s quite clear that Czech willingly spoke to a number of news organizations, and approximately at the same time?
This is no scoop, this is a calculated move by his handlers at Howard Hughes, so it really doesn’t matter who posted what first?
1/31/2007 2:52 pm
The Crimson article repeats the description of Steven Hyman’s inclusion on the list of finalists as ‘a courtesy’ that does not suggest that he is a contender for the position. Is this really a courtesy? To me it seems to underline the determination of his unsuitability, and seems more like a slap in the face. Sorta like the corporate boards that give press releases saying the CEO has decided to “resign effective immediately, to pursue personal interests”
1/31/2007 4:49 pm
Cech knows that the decision is in and did not wait to let Harvard announced it, but jumped the gun instead. Good for him. Better to leave Harvard to fry than to let Harvard fry him.
1/31/2007 6:58 pm
Cech must have sensed that the committee was leaning toward Faust. Why else rush to take the initiatve and call the Crimson and Globe in this way?
1/31/2007 8:26 pm
Here’s a wrinkle. Last week Derek Bok polled faculty asking for suggestions for membership on the new science committee tasked with thinking about Harvard-wide science. If Faust is president, which now looks likely, the next FAS dean will have to be a scientist. Not a bad method for getting an honest view of which science faculty might be best for the deanship, I would say.
1/31/2007 9:27 pm
Unless Steve Hyman satyed on as Provost and continued to do Allston
2/1/2024 12:39 am
and if he leaves, he’d be in a better position to take a presidency elsewhere (he can tack on harvard to the list of schools he’s been a finalist for).
2/1/2024 8:09 am
He could also stay on and hope that Drew fails as with Summers.