Ivy League set for new leadership at Harvard

When it comes to higher education, Harvard University holds a worldwide reputation as one of the best. So as president-elect of Harvard, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers will not only influence the Harvard community but affect higher education across the country. And Summers' new peers seem to feel that he will be an effective leader for Harvard and a valuable asset to the Ivy League. Penn President Judith Rodin said she believes that Summers was the right selection for Harvard. "Lawrence Summers is a terrific choice," she said in an e-mail statement. "I am delighted for him and for Harvard. He grew up at Penn and we feel like he's a member of our extended family." Summers "grew up" at Penn because both his parents, Robert and Anita Summers, are Penn professors emeriti and continue to remain involved in the University. And Summers' brother, Richard, is a clinical professor of psychology at Penn. "We were very pleased, just as we were pleased at each of his accomplishments along the way," Robert Summers said about his son's most recent appointment. "He's been in a family that's heavily oriented towards higher education," the elder Summers added. And Yale University President Richard Levin said he looks forward to working with Summers to achieve common goals. "I am confident that he will stand alongside President Rodin and me in the effort to maintain strong public support for the funding of university-based scientific research, which has been a wellspring of economic growth," he said in an e-mail statement. Levin said he also feels that Summers will provide support for furthering community and university relationships. "He will be an ally as well in another cause that President Rodin and I share: building strong university-urban partnerships and devoting some of the resources of our institutions toward civic improvement," he said. Higher education experts emphasized the enormous influence the president of Harvard has on the rest of the university community. "Whenever Harvard does something it has a reverberating effect... a resounding impact on higher education," said David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. He pointed to the impact of a change in Harvard's curriculum after the second World War, and more recently, their ambitious fundraising initiatives had on other higher education institutions. Summers was selected earlier this month to succeed current Harvard president Neil Rudenstine after a nine-month search. The Harvard Corporation began with 500 candidates, and the short list included Summers, University of Michigan President Lee Bollinger and Harvard Provost Harvey Fineberg. Summers will take his new post on July 1. He most recently served as Treasury Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, but is no stranger to Harvard, having both received his Ph.D. and having taught there. According to Williams College President Emeritus John Chandler, Summers will need to pay close attention to how he designs Harvard's future policies and initiatives. "Goals of places like Harvard and Penn, major research universities, have to be shaped for the needs of the whole society and whole world," said Chandler, who has also served as a senior consultant to Academic Search Consultation Service, an academic head-hunting firm. Warren agreed, saying that Harvard serves as a role model for other institutions. "When you are the lead dog on the sled team, you will be watched and... whatever actions that will be taken will be widely followed," he said. He said he also feels that Summers' Washington experience and close work with the Hope and Lifetime program -- tax credits to help families afford college -- will be an asset to Harvard. "I think it bodes well that he was in Washington for the last four years... He understands the confluence between tax plans and higher education and general appropriations and higher education," he said. Warren said that, in private colleges, two out of three students currently receive some financial assistance from the Hope and Lifetime tax credits, of which he said Summers was a "key architect." Chandler thinks that Summers' Washington connections will help to further the demands of the higher education community. "He should be a good advisor to all the different organizations that lobby on behalf of higher education, like NAICU," he said. "He will be a very constructive voice in those organizations and speaking on his own." Summers has not yet released any details on his plans for Harvard, but said he intends to listen to what the Harvard community wants first. Whatever actions he ultimately decides to take, he has a tall order to fill. "If you're the president of Harvard you have to have the golden touch of Midas to raise money, the intellectual credibility of a Nobel laureate, the political skills of a big city mayor, the vision of Moses and the patience of Job," Warren said. But not everyone was delighted with Summers' appointment to the post. In the wake of the announcement, Harvard Provost Fineberg, who was also a contender for the position, announced his resignation, effective June 30. In a letter to faculty and staff he wrote, "The Provost at Harvard has a close working relationship with the President... I believe that our new president-elect deserves the opportunity and the fullest flexibility to design this important role and relationship in the way he sees fit, from the earliest stages of his tenure." Fineberg wrote that he plans to take a sabbatical and immerse himself in his field of policy studies while deciding upon his long-term plans.