Faust Heeds Flu Precautions

With three confirmed cases of swine flu linked to the Harvard Dental School in the past week, the Ivory Tower has relinquished hopes of immunity and turned to greater vigilance.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith advised professors gathered at yesterday’s Faculty meeting to be on the lookout for possible communications from the administration regarding updates on the spread of H1N1 “swine flu.”

University President Drew G. Faust—who cited illness on Sunday when she missed the town hall meeting for the Undergraduate Council—took the message to heart and refused to make contact with professors receiving honorary A.M. degrees from the University at yesterday’s meeting.

“Under the instructions of the dean of our School of Public Health, I’m not going to shake anybody’s hand,” Faust said, before dispensing the degrees to recently tenured faculty members.

“No hug?” asked government professor Steven R. Levitsky, who walked towards Faust with arms outstretched to receive his degree.

Faust kept her distance and proffered Levitsky’s large white envelope from a safe distance.

“People are going to have to stop kissing the President,” she mused.

GEN ED OF YONDER YEARS

After Smith read the memorial minute in commemoration of former FAS Dean Jeremy R. Knowles, Faust said it would be fitting to also say a few words about General Education, which Knowles had worked on during his last few months as dean.

When the Faculty voted for the new curriculum in the spring of 2007, it marked a dual-sided commitment, Faust said.

“I just wanted to mark this transition today as one of both continuity and change,” she said. “The Faculty made a choice embedded with Harvard’s storied past, but you also called for a curriculum that will be new and forward-looking.”

“I look forward very much to watching this unfold,” Faust added.

CLASS WITH PROFESSOR SELTZER

At yesterday’s meeting, Computer Science Professor Margo I. Seltzer solicited questions and comments from the Faculty regarding the most recent version of the self-study report required for the University’s review for reaccreditation in October.

Except for one professor’s concern that the educational value of museums was underrepresented in the report, the Faculty was silent.

“See, if this were a class, I would poll you to see how many of you actually read the report,” Seltzer said. “I don’t want to go there.”

After another bout of silence, Faust interjected: “I think you should take this as a tribute to all the work that you did.”

The University, which began initial drafting of the approximately 100-page reaccreditation report last summer, released last month its most recent version of the document, which addresses how the institution is working to meet the 11 standards of accreditation, ranging from academics to University finances.

—Staff writer Bonnie J. Kavoussi can be reached at kavoussi@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.