Summers, Pick a Concentration

As he nears the end of his first year in office, University President Lawrence H. Summers has yet to really focus.

He has dipped his fingers in several pies, but none of his initiatives—with the possible, amusing and more than slightly irritating exception of Springfest 2002 (aka Sketchifest), a comparatively small no-longer-student-centered project with few real long-term benefits—have really come to fruition yet. Following the departure of Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74, this leaves Summers in an unenviable public relations position: with his predecessor’s acclaimed Afro-American studies department in flux, several unfortunately well-publicized interpersonal gaffes, and the student body’s affections rapidly turning sour.

He has no particular piece of evidence to defend himself, and his problems have made it even easier to target the presidency of Harvard, the school that supposedly has it all. (Hey, I have this column, don’t I?) He has been far more prominent in the news for his fumbles than for any real achievement. His promises of advising improvements and Faculty increases have made headlines, but he has made no notable change in any of the problem areas he has identified. He heads a University that moves at a snail’s pace, and his lack of focus makes it harder for him to get things done. It’s high time for him to start.

But instead, he has been distracted by problems created by his personal style—the personal style that worried the Harvard Corporation during the presidential search in the first place. And he’s attempting to do so many things himself that he seems not to have spent enough time on any one thing. Admittedly, his second-in-command is new (Provost Steven E. Hyman) and his third-in-command is leaving (FAS Dean Jeremy R. Knowles), so he could be trying to fly solo for a while longer. Even so, if he himself had concentrated in any one area this year, he would have had something more specific to point to as evidence of his progress.

The most concrete things he’s done have been to choose new deans and administrators. But that’s just what a president has to do to keep the University afloat. The hope for Summers was that he would do more than just tread water. He was supposed to be a visionary for change in the College. He needs to act—not just react. His public statements—if any—since the West debacle have been few and far between. If he’s not going to talk about West, he should at least talk about something.

He was chosen with a mandate to fix the neglected heart of the University: its undergraduate life. But what does he want to fix, exactly? Saying he wants to improve the College is far too broad. He needs a cause to which he can attach his name and considerable power. He vowed to increase the size of the Faculty. He vowed to improve advising. He needs to figure out what he’s going to do and stick to it. He wants to enlarge the Faculty? Then let’s see him personally focus on recruitment. While concentrating on the College is commendable, Summers needs to do more than show up to the entryway study break. He needs to narrow his scope seriously in the interests of getting something done. If he concentrated on attracting more high-profile Faculty, his drawing power, University clout and personal attention would surely speed up that lamentably slow Faculty increase.

If post-West, personal recruitment of Faculty is difficult, why not throw his weight behind a project sure to attract the support of the disgruntled student body? If he concentrated on bettering student space, perhaps we would be renovating the Malkin Athletic Center to more efficiently use its largely wasted space. If he made study abroad—which the Faculty brought up—his pet peeve, he could expedite its expansion even further and maybe make it better than competitors’ offerings.

Or to take a smaller example, what about Harvard’s policy regarding the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps? (Personally, I don’t want anything to change, but he did bring it up.) He started talking about altering it in the fall, and got some members of the student body very riled up. He could have come to a conclusion on this within a year, but instead, it seems that the issue has fallen off his radar screen—one of a thousand ideas.

Every president of Harvard has had two or three projects or causes. Summers has yet to indicate what his will be. The clock is ticking, and he’s getting nowhere. If he wants a legacy to point to, he needs to concentrate.

Vasugi V. Ganeshananthan ’02 is an English concentrator in Lowell House. Her column appears on alternate Wednesdays.