We discussed this last year in April about the hullabaloo about Harvard president Lawrence Summers's controversies and no-confidence motion by faculty members of oneof the schools at Harvard -- the faculty of arts and sciences. It seems only that school has a major problem with him or maybe that school has the biggest and powerful enough teacher union to confront him.
Its not that i have been a great pal of Summers - I only exchanged a few words with him -about his path breaking article (as claimed by UNICEF exe. dir.) on female education's crucial role in eco. development. he asked me pick it up from his office. This was at a seminar at the Edu. School on Education For All - where I also met World Bank President's wife and heard UNICEF Exe. Dir. http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=1679
Recently I observed that he had signed one of the US dollars in my pocket -as a former treasury secretary.
It is true that he is brash and makes sweeping changes and "large-scale change creates redistribution of power" --in an effort to make Harvard a truly international Univ -as was the agenda given to him -as he declared in the graduation ceremony last year. he did mention many measures he had undertaken over the past 4 years incl opening research centers in other nations. He brought in many female heads from outside - of a divided law school , or institute of politics. Business school chief left due to his mormon prophet's calling. Edu school chief stepped down as now did that of Harvard College (undergarduate) -a (history professor) and also that of Science Deptt. A famous Hip
Hop Black professor left when Summers remarked that hip hop is not as useful as others things to Harvard. I wonder about hip hop in a univ though myself. He did employ other Black professors and board members though.
Well, it is strange but true that if you want to make sweeping changes - you have to make enemies (of those whose power you challenge) and the new friends - who fill up those shoes are new to the job and not as confident or well connected in office politics to properly support the reformer. His efforts reminds me of the Times of India reforms when the company owner decided to create a position of Managing Editor who would be above the Editor-in-chief many left including the Editor-in-Chief Padgaonkar. TOI then went on to make huge gains -esp monetary -despite media being seen as a non profit by most people. However, TOI owner Puneet Jain has a polite demeanor -- which has a gentle effect during reform (though it did have many
strikes when some publications were closed down -such as Illustrated Weekly and Dharmyug) . Harvard's Summers creates reforms much more sweepingly.
Creative destruction is necessary - but keeping order and things working is also .
Lets see what happens.
Umesh
Umesh Sharma
5121 Lackawanna ST
College Park, MD 20740
1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
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