At Harvard, An Exit, Stage Left
Posted on September 16th, 2008 in Uncategorized | 16 Comments »
The Crimson reports that Professor J. Lorand Matory is leaving Harvard for Duke.
An anthropologist, Matory was one of Larry Summers’ most vocal critics, and also an outspoken critic of Israel whose pro-Palestinian opinions rubbed some people the wrong way.
“I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to Harvard in a long time,” [Alan Dershowitz] said in a phone interview yesterday. “
Given how Harvard generally responds to attempts by other universities to poach their professors—and given the University’s sensitivity to the paucity of African-Americans on its faculty—Matory (who is black) can rightly consider it a diss that Harvard did not attempt to compete with Duke’s bid.
Matory said that Harvard did not respond to Duke’s offer with a comparable position or salary.
“The letter of reply was polite but acknowledged only what is favorable about my leaving,” Matory said of the counter-offer from Dean of the Faculty Michael D. Smith.
Harvard may now have a race problem on its hands: it just lost its first “diversity dean,” Lisa Martin, who headed to the University of Wisconsin (frankly, probably a much kinder place than Harvard), who criticized FAS dean Michael Smith as lacking a commitment to diversity.
Matory echoed the sentiment:
In light of diversity dean Lisa L. Martin’s departure from Harvard, he said he thought that Smith was not committed to hiring a diverse Faculty.
“Maybe there is a pattern,” he said. “Maybe Dean Smith doesn’t seem to have found a way to commit himself to this principle as of yet.”
And then there’s that investigation into police racism.
I will give Harvard a piece of advice (I keep thinking Harvard is going to pay me for this stuff, or at least send me a thank-you note. But it never does!): In the world of journalism, three makes a trend. The university needs to be careful here….
16 Responses
9/16/2008 9:37 pm
Speaking as someone who unfortunately just lost two colleagues in my department to Duke, I’m not sure I would fault Harvard in general for not matching Duke’s offer (quite aside from the merits of this individual case). Duke seems to be bulking up by hiring big: offering money, power, privilege, in excess of the norm. I don’t know whether Harvard should have fought to keep this star, but in general I feel Harvard has enough of a star system in hiring as it is.
9/16/2008 9:41 pm
Harvard has not been kind to Richard it seems from his tone.
9/16/2008 11:29 pm
I’d rather Harvard had Matory than the odious Mankiw.
And Anon 9:41pm, that’s a weird comment.
9/16/2008 11:44 pm
Really, anon 11:29? It was? I know his comment was a joke …(I keep thinking Harvard is going to pay me for this stuff, or at least send me a thank-you note. But it never does!)…but jokes generally have an element of truth. Maybe I took too seriously.
9/17/2008 12:05 am
David Warsh caught Mankiw’s cold, selfish greed, masked by a weird and arrogant sort of humor:
http://www.economicprincipals.com/issues/2008.02.03/303.html
9/17/2008 12:10 am
Harvard has treated me just fine, Anon. I just don’t think that warmth and community are among its many virtues.
9/17/2008 12:18 am
You have to know where to look, Richard.
I’m very sorry to see Randy Matory leave, as I just told him.
Thanks for the time stamps, btw
9/17/2008 12:21 am
I’m sure that’s true, Richard.
And you’re welcome on the time stamps, though I can’t take much credit other than passing along yours and others’ requests to the Tech Guy…..
9/17/2008 12:25 am
as long as you’re passing on requests, how about a preview function so we can proofread our formatted comments before posting?
9/17/2008 12:49 am
PS: RIP Richard Wright, joining the late, lamented Syd Barrett
9/17/2008 8:03 am
Richard, thank you.
9/17/2008 8:04 am
(PS Check is in the mail)
9/17/2008 8:13 am
Thank you, Harvard.
Actually, in retrospect I think that joke came off as arrogant, rather than an attempt to inject a little levity into my advice-giving. I’ll leave it in for the sake of honesty, but it was a little glib.
9/17/2008 8:56 am
There’s no crime in wanting to be appreciated. Makes you human. It’s emotionally healthy to ask for want you need, even from anon blog readers.
9/18/2008 2:59 pm
Quite often, a university’s wisest response to an outside offer is, “We’ll help you pack.” That’s certainly the case with the dubious Matory, who has been embarassing faculty colleagues and alums for far too many years. One hopes he will be replaced by an able superstring theorist or some such.
Duke, on the other hand, seems not to have learned its lesson. It has provided itself with another maniacally self-righteous recruit for the infamous “Duke 88″ (possibly a replacement for Houston Baker?)
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