Summers To Face New No-Confidence Vote

University President Lawrence H. Summers will face a new no-confidence motion at the next full Faculty meeting.

Judith Ryan, who is the Weary professor of German and comparative literature, said tonight that she is placing the motion on the agenda for the Feb. 28 session. Summers lost a similar no-confidence vote last March by a 218-185 margin.

Ryan's 18-word resolution reads: "That the Faculty of Arts and Sciences continues to lack confidence in the leadership of Lawrence H. Summers."

The move does not come as a surprise, after more than a dozen professors confronted the president at Tuesday's Faculty meeting and assailed his managerial style.

At that meeting, Ryan asked Summers: "Do you have any reason to believe that it would not be appropriate for us to revisit the question of confidence in your leadership at a subsequent meeting?"

Summers responded: "That is of course the Faculty's prerogative."

The immediate spark for today's move was the resignation of Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby late last month. Four individuals close to the central administration told The Crimson that Summers forced Kirby to resign.

Faculty leaders are demanding a large role in the search for Kirby's successor.

At Tuesday's meeting, Summers said to Ryan: "I would hope that I would have the opportunity to work closely with members of the Faculty on this search, and in doing so, to regain trust in quarters of the Faculty where that trust may not exist today."

But yesterday, members of the Faculty's governing body sent an e-mail to professors asking them to consider completely excluding Summers from the dean-search process.

Historically, the power to appoint the Faculty dean has been the president's alone.

Summers' spokesman, John Longbrake, declined to comment on Ryan's motion tonight.

-Check www.thecrimson.com for updates.