From Harvard to D.C.--and Back

If confirmed by the Board of Overseers, Lawrence H. Summers brings a distinct interest in world affairs to a position that has been, for almost a century, a rarefied ivory tower position.

He is likely to run an administration different in style--if not in substance--from that of current President Neil L. Rudenstine, a scholar of English renaissance poetry and a career academic administrator.

And he would be the most distinctly political figure to hold the Harvard presidency since James B. Conant '14--who did not become a household name until late in his administration.

He represents a distinctly different model of leadership than the other finalists considered by the presidential search committee.

Lee C. Bollinger, the winsome, popular president of the University of Michigan, would have brought his reputation as a public advocate for higher education to the post, though he was criticized as too much of a loose cannon for Harvard.

Amy Gutmann, an ethicist and former dean of the faculty at Princeton, represented an opportunity to appoint a woman to Harvard's top post for the first time.

But despite the search committee's obvious interest in her, she seemed to lack credentials on the same scale as the other candidates, having spent only two years as dean before returning to teaching and research.

Fineberg, though impeccably qualified, seemed to some to be too similar to Rudenstine.

As the only insider to reach the final stages of the search, he had also accumulated baggage at Harvard that some say hurt his chances.

In picking Summers, the Corporation sets Harvard on a distinctly worldly course.

Indeed many at the University have expressed strong reservations about Summers strong political orientation when he was a candidate.

Though he holds a doctorate and has Harvard tenure, Summers' field of study is perhaps the most applied of the traditional disciplines at a liberal arts institution.

And he has gone back and forth between government and academia several times over the course of the career.

After leaving his post as Treasury Secretary, he went to a Washington think tank--not back to Harvard.

But his position at the Brookings Institution was essentially something respectable to do while he looked for a new power job.

Summers has had his eye on the Harvard job since shortly after Rudenstine's resignation.

Indeed, during the search, many have expressed discomfort at Summers' ambition, which some say borders on arrogance.

His interest in the Harvard post contrasts with the reluctance that presidents of the past have displayed towards taking the job. It took weeks for Nathan M. Pusey '28 to decide to accept the presidency when it was offered to him.

Though as the new president, Summers will be able to define his own priorities, he also inherits a number of continuing projects from the Rudenstine administration.

First and foremost he will have to decide what to do with the University's land in Allston. The decisions that will be made in the next few years will define the landscape of the University for long into the future.

His views about the major issues that will confront his office--information technology, diversity, interdisciplinary work and faculty recruitment--are largely unknown on campus.

He will also be need to make a number of important appointments immediately.

Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 is not likely to stay in his position for long, as a new president may want to pick a new provost.

It is unclear how long Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles will remain, but Summers will inherit from Rudenstine the task of appointing a replacement for Jerome Murphy, the Dean for the Graduate School of Education.

Rudenstine says that it took him his first few years to figure out the lay of the land at Harvard. This will also be challenging for Summers, who has not taught at Harvard since 1993.

--Staff writer Joshua E. Gewolb can be reached at gewolb@fas.harvard.edu.