The Humanities at Harvard

Goodbye, Jeremy Knowles. Hello, who?

Between now and June, President Lawrence H. Summers will probably announce who will take Jeremy R. Knowles’ place as the next Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). Whomever is chosen will have big shoes to fill and large steps to take.

When Summers took over the helm of the University last spring from the great humanist, Neil L. Rudenstine, he became the first economics professor to assume the presidency. Rudenstine was a French poetry buff, who kept novels piled up around his office. The science-niks with whom he surrounded himself, men like Knowles (chemistry and bio-chemistry) and Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 (computer science) added a little bit of hard accounting to Rudenstine’s aura. All that money Rudenstine raised with his melifluous voice and soft brown eyes was safe, donors no doubt felt, in the hands of his number crunchers.

Summers, on the other hand, is a stylized scientist. One need only read one of his speeches from his days at the Treasury Department to understand that Summers is more comfortable in the world of numbers than words.

Basically, our president is a number cruncher.

This is one of the reasons Summers should choose a humanist as the next dean of the Faculty.

But he probably won’t. In his installation speech, Summers gave every indication that the sciences were first on his to do list and loom large on his radar screen. Summers, a social scientist, may want someone with a hard science background to add depth to his proposals. If science-related initiatives are to be the cornerstone of the Summers administration, it would make sense for him to appoint a dean from the science section of the faculty.

Or does it? It is increasingly clear that science and technology will continue to play an ever more important role in our lives and our economy. In the 21st century, the question is not about the role of science in education, but about the role of the humanities in an increasingly science and technology dominated world. It will be the great challenge of the next dean to nurture a Faculty of Arts that is as relevant and important to the growth and development of undergraduates as training in the clergy was when Harvard was founded.

There would be some other, specific benefits to having a dean from the arts faculty.

Grade inflation, for instance, while a problem throughout the University, is admittedly more prevalent in the humanities. Who better to take on this task than someone who understands the egos in English and the politics of philosophy? After witnessing the Cornel West debacle, it is obvious that Summers needs someone to run interference for him with certain departments, especially those most likely to be targeted by a grade inflation initiative.

One of Knowles’ great missions as dean was to recruit more faculty members, but he fell far short of his own goals in this regard. The next dean will be challenged to do better. One would imagine a dean from the humanities would complement Summers’ attractive powers among scientists with a talent for bringing in excellent professors in the arts.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a proper column if I didn’t have a suggestion for whom Summers should pick. Why not choose a person with unparalleled academic credentials, combined with a long history of administrative success? Someone with a passion for interdisciplinary work, for making connections between departments? Someone who has already been called upon to enforce excellence when a certain department was spiraling out of control?

Who has this impressive resume? Kenan Professor of English Marjorie Garber.

Garber is a Shakespearean; all the better to carry on Harvard’s humanist tradition. She is a fixer; she was brought over from the English department to lift up the Visual and Environmental Sciences Department after the disastrous administration of its previous chair. Her work in film, queer studies, as well as her directorship of Harvard’s Humanities Center, have placed her at the center of numerous academic debates and faculty discussions. Finally, after the lukewarm reception of her last book Sex and Real Estate: Why We Love Houses, Garber may want a decade-long break from academia for re-inspiration. One could hardly think of a better career move for her.

Garber is simply one of many professors in the humanities who would be ideally suited to the position. One hopes that Summers considers the advantages of choosing one of them as he has no doubt already considered the benefits of choosing from the other side of the great academic divide.

Meredith B. Osborn ’02 is a social studies concentrator in Leverett House. Her column appears on alternate Fridays.