Welcome, Summers

Today we welcome former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence H. Summers back to Harvard as the next president of the University.

The decision came after nine months of consideration by the presidential search committee, which selected Summers as the best candidate to succeed President Neil L. Rudenstine. We believe Summers to be highly qualified. However, the extreme secrecy and exclusivity of the search denied students and faculty meaningful access to the decision-making process. As a result, though Summers has impressive academic and political experience, we know very little about his vision for the University.

As should be expected of a University president, Summers has strong administrative skills. We are confident that, as one of the most effective Treasury secretaries in recent years, Summers will be able to streamline and control the often-unwieldy Harvard bureaucracy. But unfortunately, the search process has kept the University community in the dark about his style of leadership and administrative plans.

And while we are encouraged that Summers brings a strong political voice to Harvard, we know little of the position that he intends to articulate to the nation and the world. As the nation's most prestigious university, Harvard cannot afford to be silent on major educational issues. As a vocal and active institution, the University also has a role to play on the national political stage. Summers should take advantage of the bully pulpit that the Harvard presidency offers, but in doing so he should consider the political views of the members of the university community.

The primary duties of the University president, of course, will still be academic in nature. Summers brings impeccable scholarly credentials to the table. A tenured professor at a mere 28 years old, Summers' work in applied and theoretical economics has been roundly hailed as spectacular. Moreover, as a former Harvard professor, Summers has a first-hand, insider's perspective on Harvard's educational strengths and weaknesses. But while we have full faith in Summers' credentials, we do not yet know his plans for higher education in general or for Harvard's undergraduates in particular.

We are curious to see how Summers intends to apply his experience and intellect to the problems that Harvard students face. The University president has the opportunity, unfortunately little exercised during the Rudenstine years, to revamp the College and increase the quality of a Harvard education. Like Eliot, Lowell, Conant and Bok before him, Summers should review the undergraduate curriculum and be unafraid to remove its archaic elements--most notably an outdated Core Program that forces students to take large, watered-down lectures at the expense of departmental classes. We hope Summers will move quickly to address the poor advising system that often tends to plague large departments (including economics). He must vigorously pursue the University's long-stated but never-accomplished goal of expanding the size of the Faculty, in order to increase student-faculty interaction and to allow undergraduates greater access to the College's top scholars. And Summers should make use of the proceeds of the past decade of fundraising, increasing the proportion paid out of the endowment to improve undergraduate education and make Harvard more accessible to all.

In the months before he takes office, it is imperative that Summers open a dialogue with the undergraduate community. As the president-select, he should address the campus and make students aware of his priorities and goals. Though he has taught Harvard students as a professor and teaching fellow, Summers should go out of his way to familiarize himself with other aspects of the undergraduate experience. He should eat dinner in Annenberg and the Houses, pay visits to student groups and attend Core sections. Summers should actively encourage students to approach him directly about their concerns.

While Summers' appearance at the Undergraduate Council meeting last night shows an interest in student affairs, he should be reaching out to all undergraduates--not just to council members. Excluding the press and public from a previously-announced council meeting sends a poor first impression for an incoming president. After a stiflingly-secret search process, a University-wide commitment to openness would be appropriate and welcome.

Summers will provide a prominent political voice for a University that has played a muted role in the national arena in recent years. But in the coming months, we hope Summers' first priority will be to work closely with students to address the pressing issues of undergraduate education that face the University.

And we wish him the best of luck.