CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a no-confidence vote in President Lawrence Summers on Tuesday, the latest setback for the embattled university leader who has come under fire for his managerial style and comments on women in science.
The vote, 218-185, was largely symbolic. The FAS is one of 10 faculties that comprise the university, and Summers reports to the Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing board, which has expressed its support for him.
But the unexpected passage of the vote was nonetheless a significant setback to Summers’ efforts to rebuild his standing with Harvard’s faculty in the wake of the uproar over his comments about women in science at an academic conference in January.
The measure stated simply: “The Faculty lacks confidence in the leadership of Lawrence H. Summers.”
Summers was surrounded by student protesters when he left the meeting.
“As I said to the faculty, I have tried these last couple months to listen to all that has been said, to learn from it, and to move forward, and that’s what I am going to do,” Summers said.
J. Lorand Matory, the anthropology professor who introduced the measure, called on Summers to resign. Matory announced the results outside the meeting and said he was surprised that it passed.
“This was a resounding statement that faculty lacks confidence in President Lawrence Summers and he should resign,” Matory said. “There is no noble alternative to resignation.”
The FAS also passed a milder rebuke of Summers’ comments and “managerial approach” that also expressed support for Summers in addressing the issues. That measure passed 253-187.
Summers has now met three times with the FAS since the beginning of an uproar over his remarks arguing that intrinsic differences in ability partly explain why there are fewer women in the pool of applicants for top science jobs. He has also reportedly met extensively with smaller groups of faculty, and established two faculty task forces to recommend steps for addressing issues concerning women faculty at Harvard and women in science generally.
The dispute began with Summers’ remarks – off-the-record, he believed – arguing that intrinsic differences may play a role in explaining why fewer women are in the pool of applicants for top-level science jobs. The comments prompted angry criticism from many faculty, students and alumni, though others defended Summers, saying he was simply engaging in a legitimate academic debate.
But the criticism over his comments quickly expanded into a broader attacks on his allegedly blunt management style and his vision for the university, including major projects to expand Harvard’s campus across the Charles River in Boston and his ideas about what direction scientific research should take.
AP-ES-03-15-05 1838EST
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