I have no knowledge of Desiree Goodwin’s situation, but I should say that she came to my reading at the Old South Meeting House and asked what I thought was a smart question.

In James Traub’s August 2003 profile of Larry Summers in the New York Times Magazine, there’s a curious anecdote. While meeting with a group of students, Summers was asked about the incident of the snow penis, the sculpture built by some male Harvard undergrads and knocked down by some female students. Was the sculpture’s destruction justified or an unacceptable violation of free speech?

Summers responded by challenging students to think about the issue. What if a student had written “nigger” in the snow? he asked. Would that change your feelings?

Goodwin wanted to know my reaction to that story and whether I thought Summers was racist.

Tough question.

Because when I first read Traub’s profile, I was a little shocked by Summers’ use of the n-word. For one thing, because he didn’t actually need to say it—he could have done what I just did, and said “the n-word.”

But then, that isn’t his style.

Summers was clearly using the word in a context aimed at showing its offensiveness. Still, it’s risky to throw out that word in a crowded room. Especially when you don’t really need to; when your use of it has more to do with an instinctive dislike for euphemisms, or perhaps the sense that it was so obvious that he was using the word in a critical way, no one could find fault with him.

Still…this is the kind of thing that gets Summers in trouble. Because not everyone will understand his intention. And his almost casual use of the word opens him up to the charge that he’s racist in effect, if not intent.

My answer to Goodwin: I don’t think Summers is racist. But I do think that incident is an excellent example of how Summers can be so clinical, he doesn’t realize when he’s playing with fire.