Harvard Board Weighs Summers's Presidency By DANIEL GOLDEN
Members of Harvard University's governing board are mulling whether President Lawrence Summers should step down before a scheduled Feb. 28 faculty vote on a motion of no-confidence in his leadership, say people familiar with the matter.
These people say members of the board, known as the Harvard Corporation, have become increasingly concerned that continued faculty discontent with Mr. Summers, a former U.S. treasury secretary, is hurting the university. Mr. Summers, who took over as president in 2001, has alienated some faculty members with a brusque management style and sometimes-outspoken views.
The corporation names the president and is the only authority that can remove him.
A year ago, Harvard's arts and sciences faculty voted no-confidence in Mr. Summers, and the board is worried about the effects of a second bout of public wrangling. On the other hand, members are concerned that if Mr. Summers is driven out by the faculty, his successor may not be able to govern effectively.
"Everyone is weighing the risk to Harvard of having someone leave under such adverse circumstances, versus the risk of having someone stay lacking broad support," said a person who has been in frequent contact with the board. "Everybody recognizes that it would be good to have clarity before a vote on the motion of no confidence."
As Harvard president, Mr. Summers has sought to boost the quality of undergraduate education and of science research, including establishing an institute on stem-cell research. While donations to the university have remained high, the percentage of alumni giving to the university has declined, which some critics see as a sign of discontent with his leadership. The university has delayed plans for a major fund-raising campaign.
"You can't have this kind of thing come up regularly," said one donor familiar with the corporation's thinking about the no-confidence motion. "If you can't lead, you can't lead. Fair or unfair, that's the issue."
Several members of the board, including former Duke University president Nannerl Keohane and Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., have been interviewing faculty, deans and key alumni about Mr. Summers, according to people familiar with their inquiries. "The corporation is in very active listening mode," one person said.
Mr. Summers declined requests for comment. Harvard officials said he is on a ski vacation with his family over the long weekend.
Mr. Summers's troubles last year were catalyzed by a talk he gave suggesting that innate gender differences might account for the relative scarcity of women with high-level academic careers in science and math. This time, faculty critics have assailed Mr. Summers on matters ranging from the resignation of a key dean to the lack of any university discipline meted out to economics professor Andrei Shleifer, a close friend of the president. Last year, Harvard and Mr. Shleifer settled a civil suit brought by the federal government, stemming from allegations that he had violated conflict-of-interest rules by investing in financial markets in Russia while heading a foreign-aid program there.
Calls for Mr. Summers's departure from faculty critics have escalated in recent days, while his supporters complain that he hasn't responded with his customary vigor.