Summers Takes the Reins

Today, Lawrence H. Summers will be officially installed as the twenty-seventh president of Harvard University. A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected to welcome him in Tercentenary Theatre, many of them undergraduates targeted by the University’s strong publicity efforts. We warmly appreciate the University’s efforts to reach out to undergraduates in planning this ceremony and hope that it signifies Summers’ intent to place the College at the center of his presidential agenda.

Since his early interviews with the presidential search committee, Summers has consistently pointed to the need for a world-class University to have a world-class College. We appreciate his attention to the size of the Faculty and the tenure rates of junior faculty, and we look forward to additional measures to improve the undergraduate experience. Yet in his first months in office, Summers has been hesitant to take significant steps or to announce long-range plans; we hope that this official installation will mark the beginning of the changes that his term will bring.

One possible indication of Summers’ attention to undergraduates is his selection of Paul A. Gusmorino ’02, president of the Undergraduate Council, to speak at the installation. Gusmorino will have a unique opportunity to address the campus: most of the other speakers will be members of the Universities’ faculties, and no undergraduate student has spoken in any of the five installations in the last century. His speech will not only be heard by students, but will reach to the many members of the alumni community who will be in attendance. We congratulate Gusmorino and wish him luck.

The installation is one of the few opportunities before Commencement for students to see Harvard’s full pomp and circumstance. We hope it will also be an opportunity for students to learn in more detail where Summers intends to lead the University. We urge all students to attend the installation, to greet our new University president and to hear his plans for the future.