A fascinating trio of letters in the Harvard Crimson.

The first, by J. Robert Moskin, class of ’44, is almost a parody of the grouchy old alum. “Enough of this disgraceful public bickering by teachers who are expected to know better.” And so on.

The second, by Samuel S. Robinson, class of ’54, isn’t much better. Robinson talks about how Harvard once protected its professors from McCarthyism, and now is turning on its own president. “Who would want to succeed University President Lawrence H. Summers, or indeed even teach at or attend a place so disconnected from its glorious past?”

Not quite sure I follow the logic there.

David G. Winter, class of ’60, sounds like a man who graduated just a little ahead of his time. “The Harvard Corporation—one of the oldest absolute oligarchies in the Western Hemisphere, and a bastion of the American ruling class—is in no way bound to act on the faculty’s views,” he writes. “And so as expected, it has announced its continued confidence in Summers.”

Isn’t it remarkable how all these letters seem not just reflective of the men who wrote them, but the era in which they graduated?

And again, a point I’ve made repeatedly in this space: People outside the university simply do not understand that, particularly at Harvard, it is customary for the faculty to have a say in the running of the place. Not necessarily a decisive one, but a voice that is taken seriously and considered with respect.