Profs, Summers To Meet Thursday

Though the next Faculty meeting is still two weeks away, professors will not have to wait until then to continue the debate over University President Lawrence H. Summers’ leadership style.

In an e-mail to professors yesterday, Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby announced the creation of an online forum and a series of informal discussion sessions in which professors can review concerns that were first raised in a contentious Feb. 15 Faculty meeting and have since captured the attention of the campus and the international media.

Kirby wrote in his e-mail that the fora are designed to give a voice to faculty members who wished to speak at the Feb. 15 meeting and its continuation last Tuesday, but were unable to participate due to the large number of professors who had submitted their names to speak.

At the second meeting last Tuesday, Kirby introduced the idea of the small-group discussions but made no mention of an online forum.

Baird Professor of Science Gary J. Feldman said the small-group meetings are part of Summers’ promise to increase interaction and consultation with the Faculty.

“It’s an attempt to let faculty members express their views directly and increase communication,” he said.

Kirby said he hopes to hold at least four meetings over the next six weeks. The first two meetings will be held this Thursday and the next Wednesday, March 9. Professors must request to attend the meetings and will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis, with the number of faculty at each meeting capped at around 30.

Classics Department Chair Richard F. Thomas praised the planned meetings, which he said will facilitate discussion of vital issues.

“I think it’s a very positive step that Dean Kirby is getting us together. I think the more that we can discuss all of these issues, the better for Harvard,” Thomas said.

The electronic discussion forum is only available to voting members of the Faculty. While Crimson editors were able to log into the site for a brief period yesterday, access was restricted within a few hours.

Feldman said he hoped that the electronic and in-person fora to discuss Summers’ leadership would allow the Faculty to address other issues at its next meeting on March 15.

“One of the purposes of this website was for people to express their opinion without taking up more faculty time” at the formal meetings, Feldman said.

But Kirby said he would not discourage additional discussion at Faculty meetings.

“None of this precludes what colleagues may wish to discuss at formal Faculty meetings, but I hope that these sessions can provide additional venues for dialogue,” he wrote in an e-mail last night.

A discussion of the Curricular Review’s report on General Education is expected to be on the docket for the March 15 meeting. A report on the review’s progress was slated to occur at the Feb. 15 meeting, but never occurred.

Kirby has said he hopes to have professors vote on review legislation by the end of this semester, but wants the Faculty to fully discuss and debate the issues before any vote is held. With only four Faculty meetings left for discussion, the administration cannot afford to lose any more meetings if it hopes to meet its goal.

However, with Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory ’82 expected to place a vote of no confidence on the docket for the March meeting, it is possible that faculty discontent with Summers may once again hold the floor in two weeks.

—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.