Quietly, The Summers Era Ends

This week, Lawrence H. Summers gets to participate in an age-old Harvard tradition that he hasn’t yet experienced during his tenure: move-out.

After five years in one of the world’s most venerated leadership positions, Harvard’s 27th president will officially step down at midnight tonight, concluding a tenure marked by controversy and strife. He will hand over the University’s reins to Derek C. Bok, Harvard’s president from 1971 to 1991.

Summers announced he would step down in February after a bitter year-long spat with the Faculty of Arts and Science that ended when Summers lost the support of key members of the University’s highest governing board, the Harvard Corporation. His affair with the Faculty was touched off by the president’s infamous January 2005 remarks on women in science, which thrust Harvard squarely into the international spotlight and brought the embattled leader’s every move under intense scrutiny.

But today he leaves office quietly, without any of the fanfare that accompanied his arrival, or the tumult and clamor of his most difficult days. For the most part, the only people on campus are visiting students who would probably not recognize the man who, for better or worse, has been the face of Harvard for the past five years. Many professors, too, are gone, conducting research or vacationing outside of Cambridge.

Summers will move from Mass. Hall down J.F.K. Street to the Kennedy School of Government, where he is expected to maintain his office when he assumes the role of University professor in the fall of 2007. His new office—Littauer 244—is the old workplace of one of his closest advisers, Professor of Public Service David R. Gergen, who has moved to a new office at the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership. Summers will also hold a second office at Harvard Business School.

The hand over of Mass. Hall will trigger a reshuffling of the ranks inside the Office of the President. While no senior administrators have announced plans to depart, several of Summers’ key staffers will lose their jobs tomorrow along with the president, as Bok is expected to maintain only a small staff during his interim tenure.

Pink slips will be given to Jared Craft, Summers’ special assistant, and Colleen Richards Powell, his assistant for student affairs, according to an individual close to Mass. Hall. Gaspar Oliveira, the manager of Summers’ Elmwood mansion, will retire from his post.

Other staffers will fill similar roles after Summers departs. Summers’ chief of staff, Kasia E. Lundy ’95, will assume new duties under Provost Steven E. Hyman, while Summers’ scheduler, Beth Withers, is already keeping track of appointments for Bok, the source said. Summers’ special events director, M. Trearty Bartley, is expected to return to the University Development Office, according to the individual. And Jose Andrade, the president’s personal chauffeur, will assume a new position elsewhere at Harvard.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to maintain relationships with Summers and the staff members.

“We anticipate a slight reorganization at the staff level, which is not uncommon during transitions,” John D. Longbrake, the president’s spokesman, wrote in an e-mail.

Bok has said that he intends to rely solely on the vice president for government, community, and public affairs, Alan J. Stone, for media relations. But Longbrake will continue to serve Mass. Hall in its dealings with the press, according to Stone.

“Other than the fact that adjustments take place for everyone during a transition, John will continue as a valued and senior member of our team as he has excellent relationships with all of Mass. Hall and beyond as well as with the press,” Stone wrote in an e-mail yesterday. “Exactly how our roles evolve remains to be seen.”

MOVER AND SHAKER

Summers has drawn headlines since early in his tenure, and his final weeks in office have been no different. He kicked off June by attacking a British professors union’s resolution to boycott Israeli academics who do not denounce “continuing Israeli apartheid policies.” In a statement, Summers called the boycott “anti-Semitic in both effect and in intent.”

Two weeks later, the former Treasury secretary criticized “inflation targeting,” which occurs when a central bank dictates an explicit range of desired inflation rates and then pursues a monetary policy designed to reach those rates.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’75 supports the practice, but at a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Summers advised against adopting strict rules given the changing global economy. “To straitjacket monetary policy would be quite unwise,” Summers said.

The outgoing president’s final days have included a whirlwind of visible media appearances, including interviews with ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” NPR’s “Morning Edition,” and PBS’ “Charlie Rose”—his first interview with Rose in five years.

He also has bought a new house. Anticipating the move out of Elmwood, Summers and his wife, Professor of English Elisa New, closed on a 16-room colonial in nearby Brookline for $2.53 million, according to the Norfolk County registry of deeds.

Over the past few months, Summers has been increasingly warming to the idea of assuming a position on Wall Street in addition to maintaining a teaching post in Cambridge, two individuals close to Summers said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preserve their relations with Summers.

The individuals said that while Summers has not finalized any plans, he has been contemplating offers extended to him by two New York firms, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup—discussions that were first reported in The Wall Street Journal last week.

Summers has top-level connections at both firms. The president’s mentor and predecessor as Treasury Secretary, Robert E. Rubin ’60, is the chairman of Citigroup’s executive committee and a member of the Corporation. And in Summers’ final Commencement address, the president described the life of a Bronx mailman’s son who had risen to lead a top American financial firm, an apparent reference to newly appointed Goldman chief executive Lloyd C. Blankfein ’75.

The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed member of the Corporation calling the remarks “self-serving.”

An individual close to the governing body, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Crimson that even in the final days of the Summers’ presidency, Corporation fellows remain angry at what they consider to be Summers’ frequent attacks on members of the Corporation and professors at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in private conversations over the past several weeks.

—Material from the Associated Press was used in the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Nicholas M. Ciarelli can be reached at ciarelli@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Javier C. Hernandez can be reached at jhernand@fas.harvard.edu.