[whymauri]

Exactly. At nearly 20 years of membership and collective service to the Divinity School and Harvard College, he's been a fixture (from undergrad, to postdoc, to lecturer, to professor, to joint appointee, to commencement speaker) for nearly as long as I have been alive, and certainly for longer than current undergrads have been alive.

If I devoted half that amount of time to an institution and received this treatment in return, I would struggle to contain my composure. I think the letter insinuates that his service to Harvard stems from a love/appreciation for what the institution stood for 20, 30, perhaps even 40-50 years ago. Who here doesn't feel similarly about their undergrad? Of those who feel that way, who else would feel irate if they were treated this way in return?

[endisneigh]

To add to this, ironically the only reason he even went back to Harvard (IIRC) is because he has strong feelings for Harvard. He was actually tenured at Princeton when he went to Harvard. So I can't blame him lol