I’ve long thought that the key to Summers’ fate lies in the hands of Harvard donors. If a significant percentage of them stop giving, his goose is cooked. But if they continue to give—or actually increase their contributions—his position is stable, and he can work to shore up his internal support.

Now I hear that the Corporation has privately acknowledged that Summers needs to be “built up” before he can embark on a major, public capital campaign, a process that, the Corporation thinks, could take two years.

Moreover, a recent Summers visit with several Silicon Alley billionaires left the billionaires “visibly unimpressed”…