Faculty’s Actions Will Harm University in Long-Run

To the editors:

Re: “Summers Resigns; Bok Will Be Interim Chief,” news, Feb. 22.

As an alumnus of Harvard College, I cannot help but feel that this is truly a sad event for Harvard. Lawrence Summers brought a vision to Harvard that put it in a position to continue to set the benchmark for American universities into the 21st century. Among Summers’ major accomplishments, he advocated the recruitment of disadvantaged, lower-income students, leading the Ivy League and other elite universities to slash expected parental contributions and make up the difference in scholarships and grants, an initiative I have seen succeed first-hand as an alumni interviewer for Harvard. Further, it was during Summers’ tenure that the expansive curricular review began, a much needed initiative to strengthen scientific literacy among undergraduates, simplify and update distribution requirements, and encourage study abroad, all initiatives that will continue to make Harvard a leader in undergraduate education. Finally, Summers guided Harvard through the delicate but crucial expansion into Allston that will allow Harvard to forge ahead in the biological and physical sciences and indeed all areas of knowledge and scholarship. Yet the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but one faculty among many, precipitated Summers’ resignation on account of his demand for first-rate scholarship, his challenges of their assumptions, and his refusal to kowtow to their sense of self-importance. It is shameful that a group of cantankerous, shortsighted, prima donna academics have ended the tenure of a truly visionary president. Unlike what some of the faculty have suggested, it is not Summers who is unfit to lead, but the Faculty of Arts and Sciences that is incapable of being led.

As my first five-year reunion approaches, I have certainly considered withholding support on account of these unfortunate events, yet I would urge fellow alumni equally angered by this turn of events not to withdraw support from Harvard. Supporting Harvard serves to ensure that Summers’ lower-income recruitment initiative and other visions can continue. Turning our backs on Harvard will only harm Harvard’s most essential asset—its student body.

ERNEST I. MANDEL ’01
New Haven, Conn.
February 22, 2006