February 17, 2006

• Role Model

  The adventures of Harvard president Larry Summers continue in today’s Crimson:

  At the most vulnerable juncture of his half-decade at Harvard’s
  helm, Summers now faces a fuming Faculty with few vocal supporters by
  his side.

  And many of his longtime allies are expressing disaffection with what they see as the president’s ineffective leadership.

  “If he’s going to be like every other college president– just a
  caretaker, fundraiser, and a mouther of platitudes– then why do we need
  someone who’s also going to offend people?” said psychologist Steven
  Pinker, who was one of Summers’ most prominent supporters last year….

  Pinker, while saying he wasn’t sure if the Corporation
  should take any public steps, said he hoped the board would, at least,
  intervene privately with the president.

  “I would like them to give some guidance to Summers and to
  say, ‘Things aren’t going well. You’ve got to either bring back some
  leadership and make sure that trains run on time and start new
  initiatives that you originally wanted to bring– or else get out of the
  way,’” Pinker said.

  – Anton S. Troianovski

  

  Who’ll be my role model

  Now that my role model is

  Gone, gone?

  – Paul Simon    

  • 11:07 am
  • Leave a comment