[jacobolus]

That is nonsense. Summers was forced to step down because he picked fights (on hiring/firing/promotions, spending priorities, the balance of power between different parts of the university, etc.) with the majority of the faculty, and forced out some wonderful and very popular members of the community. He tried to run the university like a CEO would run a corporation, and learned that a faculty made up of many of the the top scholars in every field isn’t easily pushed around. The public gaffes were just the icing on the cake.

Also, in being “forced to step down”, he was given a University Professorship: not the roughest of deals, to be sure.

[byrneseyeview]

Are you referring to Cornell West? My impression was that Cornell West was not bothering to show up for class and grade papers, and that Summers asked him to do the job he'd been hired to do. I guess that could make someone unpopular.

[jacobolus]

No, I’m not. However, “not bothering to show up for class and grade papers” is grossly inaccurate. Here’s a link to West’s radio interview with Tavis Smiley at the time: http://www.npr.org/programs/tavis/features/2002/jan/020107.w...

[byrneseyeview]

"In 2000 economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers became president of Harvard. In a private meeting with West, Summers allegedly rebuked West for neglecting his scholarship, and spending too much time on his economically profitable projects.[5] Summers allegedly suggested that West produce an academic book befitting his professorial position. West had written several books, some of them widely cited, but his recent output consisted primarily of co-written and edited volumes. According to some reports, Summers also objected to West's production of a CD, the critically panned Sketches of My Culture, and to his political campaigning."

And

"In October, he had the temerity to meet with Cornel West and suggest that he turn his hand to some serious scholarship-West's most recent production was a rap CD called Sketches of My Culture-and lead the way in fighting the scandal of grade inflation at Harvard, where one of every two grades is an A or A-. What an outrage! West went to sulk in his tent, announcing on the way that he was applying for another year's leave of absence (he had just returned from one) and letting it be known that he might just up and leave Harvard."

To whom were you referring?

Edit: I accidentally misspelled the professor's name in my previous comment. He is, of course, Cornel and not Cornell.

[jacobolus]

First: whoops, I edited my comment while you were replying. Second: Summers was clearly in the wrong at the beginning of his spat with West, who was at the time a University Professor (an extreme honor, which places a professor outside any department, and accords him the ability to teach whatever he likes); West’s outrage at Summers’ disrespect was predictable and easily avoidable.

There were several resignations of much-loved deans, &c. in the last couple of years of Summers’ presidency. Go read through the Crimson’s coverage of Summers’ departure if you want a reasonable semi-outsider’s (students aren’t party to internal faculty disputes) look.

Edit: that National Review article you quote is garbage: “The unpalatable truth is that Afro-American Studies is a pseudo-discipline—an academic ghetto constructed to accommodate the beneficiaries of ‘affirmative action’—and that the celebrated occupants of Harvard's department are second-class scholars with first-class salaries and perquisites.”

[byrneseyeview]

What was summer wrong about? West was an embarrassment -- too busy writing a bad rap album to publish any actual work? It's not like they have accounting professors who are busy playing country music or death metal.

I hadn't heard about the other deans. I can understand Harvard professors being huffy when someone tries to make them behave differently, but that doesn't tell me it's wrong to ask -- it could be, but perhaps those professors were too egotistical or cozy. Very hard to say.

Is the National Review article factually incorrect? What parts of my life have been improved by the diligent and industrious researchers of the world's Afro-American Studies departments?

[jacobolus]

I don’t think we’ll get anywhere with this discussion—you have an existing prejudice about those involved which causes you to toss around trivializing sarcastic insults of Professor West (have you read any of his “actual” work?) and Harvard professors in general (“huffy”, “egotistical”, “cozy”? “behave differently?”).

And no, it’s not “factually incorrect”: it’s an opinion piece. It is, however, garbage.

[akd]

Summers tried to change a group of people that was extremely resistant to change. They tried to crucify him several times, and were finally successful.

[jacobolus]

You imply that the institution’s conservatism is undesirable, and that the faculty was unjustified in resisting Summers’ desired changes, but what qualifies you to make those judgments? Also, “tried to crucify him several times”?

[akd]

Yup, they tried to get rid of him when he pushed out Cornel West, then they tried to get rid of him when he was about to fire FAS dean Kirby, and then they finally had their day when he made the gender commments.

[helveticaman]

Link?

[jacobolus]

Some of the story: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511484