Transformed
Posted on January 27th, 2010 in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
“People lined up to shake her hand [at the ice cream social],” says a Harvard employee…. “It showed that she was of the people, not riding in a limo, not jetting off to Davos,” both things Summers had done.
—quoted in “Drew Faust and the Incredible Shrinking Harvard,” by yours truly, June 2009 issue of Boston magazine
Harvard…will hold a reception [at Davos] with remarks from President Drew Faust; Julio Frenk, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health; and Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Graduate School of Design. Michael Porter, a business professor; David Bloom, a global health professor; and David Ellwood, dean of the Kennedy School of Government, are among the Harvard faculty speaking on panels.
—Oliver Staley writing on Bloomberg.com, today
To be fair, the presidents of Yale, Brown and Columbia are also at Davos. But given the financial devastation at Harvard—and the popular mood in Massachusetts, as indicated by the election of Scott Brown—is this really where Drew Faust should be spending her time? (And Harvard’s money?)
How quickly Drew Faust has warmed to the presidential lifestyle….
11 Responses
1/27/2010 9:03 am
The story explains the lure for university presidents: “Yale University sees it as an opportunity to do business, too, entertaining potential donors and recruiting world leaders to teach on campus.” MIT is sending a contingent of 12!
My disappointment is not that the Harvard president is going—sound’s like it’s one of those things where the president would make a stronger statement by not going, as apparently Amy Guttman did last year—but that there don’t seem to be any climate scientists on the list. I wonder if climate change has dropped off the list of global economic problems, or if the apparent absence is just an accident of the Bloomberg story line.
1/27/2010 10:20 am
So DF now has to be accountable to what random passers-by in the Yard feel about her leadership? This post would have a lot more weight if you could point to a DF quote saying she wouldn’t go to Davos. Now it just seems beyond disingenuous…
1/27/2010 11:05 am
“Jetting off [somewhere]” is always a good phrase, too, if you want to be disparaging. It’s possible, to be sure, that the person quoted has never actually taken a plane trip, so perhaps I shouldn’t be too mean.
1/27/2010 12:29 pm
Are more layoffs on the horizon? Some professional schools have now instituted two performance reviews a year -instead of one. Even for union employees. The new review was just announced, with one week’s notice. Seems odd…
1/27/2010 2:14 pm
One of your dumbest posts ever, Richard, as happens often when you take a chance to take a needless swipe at Faust. The election of Scott Brown means she shouldnt go to Davos? Is the west coast OK, but no farther? Yale, Brown and Columbia aren’t financially wrecked too? Faust didn’t go to Davos last year. She’s going now for two days-no entourage. Ask yourself why this trifling thought is even worth posting.
1/27/2010 3:32 pm
I don’t think it was wise for any of these Ivy presidents to be in Davos and, particularly, DF. Their is simply too much work to be accomplished in Cambridge and too much Harvard institutional baggage and history associated with Davos. Davos has come to symbolize overstuffed egos and overstuffed bankerish wallets. Good judgment and good institutional values dictate restraint. Drew’s attendance validates that which the majority of the country holds in contempt. In my view, it is a terrible statement.
1/27/2010 4:56 pm
Faust at Davos. Faust in Africa.
However, Holyoke defends her. Why? DGF fan club.
DGF has no business being in Davos. She has little to offer. Doesn’t she have all she can handle in Cambridge?
But the three lawyers who are actually running this place are telling her she has to be a presence there.
Would nice to be a fly on the wall as she meets LHS, who is needlessly spending taxpayer money while the number of unemployed continues to rise.
1/27/2010 5:25 pm
If it is acceptable that the thick bureaucracy that now governs Harvard’s schools should impose two reviews a year on the people who actually do the work, shouldn’t all these managers be equally reviewed? Perhaps the corporation should also be implementing quarterly reviews of the performance of the president and of the deans. After all, it is them, and not the secretaries, who are responsible for the terrible decisions which have caused so much havock at Harvard.
1/30/2010 11:10 am
Since @friend took our name in vain we must weigh in. Whatever credibility RB had as a Faust critic has gone with this post. The few $thousand it costs to send brains to Davos is a drop in the deficit bucket. Not going would look and be stupid. Meanwhile we agree with @friend that we’d love to see Drew give Larry the evil eye!
2/1/2024 7:22 am
Whether going to Davos was a good idea or not can only be judged after the fact, based on whatever is accomplished at the meeting. We shall look forward to the Presidents report about these accomplishments.
2/3/2024 5:41 pm
Oh, horrors! Getting a sit-down performance discussion with your manager twice a year! What kind of crazy thing will Harvard think up next?
The two reviews thing a year is bogus. Everyone is supposed to be getting a meeting at the beginning of the year to discuss goals for the year ahead, a mid-year check in, and an end of year review. It’s called managing performance.