NOT the Majority Opinion

Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University has announced his resignation after a turbulent five years and a week ahead of a second no-confidence vote.

Summers, Treasury secretary for seven years under Bill Clinton, whose tenure is the briefest in 140 years, will leave at the end of this academic year. He said: "I have reluctantly concluded that the rifts between me and segments of the Arts and Sciences faculty make it infeasible for me to advance the agenda of renewal that I see as crucial to Harvard's future." (see, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4738030.stm , http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-02-21T142327Z_01_N21396629_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-HARVARD-SUMMERS.xml).

For an account on events on Summers’s tenure as President of Harvard see http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/02/19/summerss_tenure_at_harvard . Derek Bok, who led Harvard from 1971 to 1991, will become interim president in July and Dr Summers will remain as a professor.

Summers caused a stir a year ago among academics by suggesting at a conference that women have less innate ability at science and maths than men. He argued that one group outperformed the other because of genetics, not just experience and that the theory that men were more naturally able at sciences was based on research, not his own opinions. Boys had achieved more top scores in tests than girls and the difference needed further investigation. Several guests walked out of a conference at the time after hearing the comments. However, Summers said in a statement at a time: "My remarks have been misconstrued as suggesting that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of math and science. I did not say that, nor do I believe it. "I am deeply committed to the advancement of women in science, and all of us have a crucial stake in accelerating progress toward that end." He added that the "harder we work to research and understand the situation, the better the prospects for long-term success". (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4183495.stm)

This is a very characteristic story of University politics. It reminds me a speech by the late Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of Britain, in the mid 70’s who said: “I always thought that most political intrigues occur in the church. This, until I came to know academic politics”.

Henry Kissinger, had a low opinion of University politics. “Academic politics is so difficult because the stakes are so trivial”.