Summers named president of Harvard

After a secretive nine-month selection process, the Harvard Corporation named former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as the next president of Harvard University. Summers will become Harvard's 27th president, taking the place of Neil Rudenstine, who will depart after a decade at the helm of the Cambridge, Mass. school. Summers will begin work on July 1. "It is with a great sense of anticipation, a feeling of excitement and exhilaration, that I undertake the responsibility the Corporation has entrusted to me," Summers said at a press conference last week following the announcement. Summers graduated with a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard in 1982 and most recently served as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration. The other two finalists considered for the position were Harvard Provost Harvey Fineberg and University of Michigan president Lee Bollinger. People in the Harvard community anticipate that Summers' extensive political connections will serve as an important part of his presidency. "He is greatly respected in Washington, which means that higher education will have in him a powerful voice that will be listened to by the federal government," said Roderick MacFarquhar, chairman of the Government Department at Harvard. MacFarquhar added that he felt the appointment of Summers was an excellent choice, and that he had put in a recommendation for Summers, who is also a former Harvard professor of economics. "I wrote to the chair of the search committee last September, and subsequently met with a member of the Corporation, to argue the case for him," he said. Some of the criticisms against Summers were his lack of higher education administrative experience and a controversial memo he wrote many years ago, in which he argued that toxic waste could be shipped to underdeveloped countries. Yet opinions across campus on Summers' appointment seem to be quite positive. "From what I have heard about Summers, I think he will be an excellent president," said Dick Gross, chairman of the Mathematics Department at Harvard. Some students are a little more skeptical, however, even though Summers began making contact with students soon after his appointment, also attending a meeting with Harvard's Undergraduate Council. "I think it's a good sign that he is willing to meet with students," Justin Barkley, the Undergraduate Council treasurer said. "We had a good session, he was very open, which is promising, but at the same time he seemed very much an administrator." Undergraduate Council President Paul Gusmorino said he feels that most students have not yet formed a concrete opinion of Summers. "I think most students have a wait-and-see attitude," he said. He added that some students are concerned about the memo Summers wrote and how it reflects on him as a person. But so far, Gusmorino said he has been happy with Summers' attention to undergraduates. "We're delighted that he invited us to meet with him right away. He met us before he met some of the deans," he said. Summers plans to absorb as much as possible about the Harvard community before making any concrete plans for the school's future. "Before I do much more speaking I will be doing a great deal of listening to the members of this community who... have given an enormous amount of very careful and detailed thought to its future," he said.