Drew Faust Walks It back
Posted on December 12th, 2007 in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
According to the Allston Brighton Community blog, Drew Faust has issued a statement denying the Boston Globe piece of this morning.
I was quite surprised to awake to a front-page headline in Wednesday’s (Dec. 12) Boston Globe declaring “Harvard Rethinks Allston.” Let me be clear: Harvard is not “rethinking” Allston. I am unequivocally committed to moving aggressively and ambitiously forward, and to making our unfolding plans a reality.
And so on.
Just one problem: It was Faust herself who said…
“For the last several years, the university leadership has been in transition. I can own a project and look at it in a deliberative way. . . . We’re looking at everything again.”
“We’re looking at everything again” sure sounds like re-thinking, no? And in her statement Faust doesn’t make any attempt to deny that she gave the above statement; she doesn’t even acknowledge it.
So what happened?
5 Responses
12/13/2007 12:30 am
“For the last several years, the university leadership has been in transition,” Faust said. “I can own a project and look at it in a deliberative way. . . . We’re looking at everything again.”
It would be nice to know what the writer left out here. Clearly she said something that might connect these two sentences.
12/13/2007 12:37 am
Yup, agreed. Still, Faust didn’t question the quote…and she clearly gave an interview to the writer on the subject.
12/13/2007 9:53 am
I think both of these statements meet at a perfectly reasonable place. Much of what will go into Allston has not been decided, so it is quite possible to keep moving forward on what has been decided — 1st Science, stem cells, infrastructure that needs lengthy city and community review — while also re-examining everything else deliberately. We’re talking about the next 50 years here, folks- this will outlast Drew by quite a bit, unless she sets near-records for both presidential tenure and personal longevity.
12/13/2007 10:38 am
also what about the other people wertheimer quotes? if the reporter were grossly off, wouldn’t this have at least come across in their responses?
>In a meeting with chairs of the school of Arts and Sciences two weeks ago, Faust made it clear “that this huge project of moving full steam ahead in Allston is something the university needs to rethink,” said Diana Eck, the department chairwoman for the study of religion.
>Harvard’s decision to delay the building of the museum in Allston and instead first renovate the Fogg and Busch-Reisinger museums in Cambridge was part of Faust’s desire to slow the process and review the overall Allston plan, said Steven Hyman, provost.
12/13/2007 4:39 pm
fundraising must be really off, eh?
perhaps this is why the master plan is also slow coming out of the gates. good thing it’s not an election year.
also, have they found a replacement for sally zeckhauser-there could be a link-ya think?