Down with Summers!

[astra_nomer]

If only the gesture were more than just symbolic: link

Frankly, I'm impressed and a little surprised that the vote of no confidence passed by a solid majority. I will admit to some amount of gleeful delight, since I had reason to dislike Summers long before he stuck his foot in his mouth so badly.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I want it noted that I've never liked Summers, from the first speeches he made on campus. I didn't think there was anything good about picking an economist to run Harvard.

As far as I can tell he's done everything the corperation wanted him to (except for staying out of trouble) so we'll have to see what they decide in the future.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Given that his primary job is fund-raising and given that he's likely pissed off a large fraction of Harvard/Radcliffe alumni/ae who are potential donors, I think he's doomed.

heard on NPR

[remcat.livejournal.com]

I heard that while the 218 voting "no confidance" were a majoring of those present, that they were not a majority of the ~700 total staff. The NPR dude also went on to say how this was "only" one of the Harvard colleges, not the law school or the alums etc. I would love to see a poll of the alums :).

Re: heard on NPR

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

So, the Globe article says that nontenured faculty members rarely attend faculty meetings or vote (makes sense, why rock the boat if you're the one most likely to get tossed overboard?), so I'd bet that counts for a lot of the no-shows.

It also says, "The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is only one of Harvard's 10 schools, but it represents almost half of the tenured and tenured-track faculty. It includes the undergraduate college and the traditional PhD programs and is considered by many to be the heart of the university."

I also believe that getting tenured faculty to agree on something, especially at Harvard, is much like herding cats, so the fact that so many went along with the motion says a lot.

And I agree, it would be very interesting to see what a poll of the alums reveals.

Re: heard on NPR

[remcat.livejournal.com]

Hm, that certainly puts a different spin on the NPR info... of course I was only listening with half an ear, so possibly they elaborated and I didn't register it.

Now I remember somethign about it being an anonymous vote, with one of the (tenured) profs saying how even tenure isn't real protection, since budget, etc. is still a year-to-year consideration.