Outspoken Resident Tutor to Leave

After four years as one of Quincy House’s most popular and outspoken residents, Timothy P. McCarthy ’93 is getting restless.

McCarthy—a resident tutor and lecturer in History and Literature whose strong liberal views have earned him notoriety on campus—will leave Harvard this June to study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for the Study of the American South.

McCarthy, known for his hands-on teaching style and involvement in social activism on campus, has been a vocal critic of the University.

Among other issues, he laments what he calls inadequate focus on the humanities by the current administration.

He is a ubiquitous presence at campus political rallies and protests.

“I like to speak out from my little space at Harvard,” McCarthy said. “I have devoted my life to perpetual criticism.”

Big Man on Campus

McCarthy has cultivated close, intimate relationships with his colleagues and students.

For the past two years, McCarthy has led students on Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trips to the South, where they rebuilt black churches burnt down by white supremacist groups.

Josiah M.Pertz ’03, who participated in one such trip, is one of three students writing his senior thesis under McCarthy’s auspices.

“Tim knows this place inside and out,” Pertz said. “He is a versatile member of the community.... He is not just a teacher, but a leader and a friend.”

Last year, McCarthy was rewarded for his commitment to teaching, receiving the Stephen Botein teaching prize, awarded annually to teachers in the History and Literature concentration.

John Stauffer, associate professor in History and Literature, co-taught English 176A, “American Protest Literature,” with McCarthy last spring, and says he considers McCarthy one of his closest friends.

“I think he is an absolutely brilliant scholar and teacher, one of the best at Harvard,” Stauffer said. “There are going to be hundreds of students that will be very sorry to see him leave.”

McCarthy said one of his favorite moments at Harvard came at the class’s final meeting last spring, when his students and teaching fellows brought flowers to their two instructors.

“It almost brought me to tears,” he said.

But McCarthy’s strongest ties are to Quincy House, the “home within Harvard” where he also lived as an undergraduate.

“I love all my students, but Quincy House has aways been very good to me. It’s going to be very hard to leave,” he said.

Quincy House Senior Tutor Maria J. Trumpler praised McCarthy for his “wit and intellectual breadth.”

“He is going to leave a huge hole here,” she said. “He plays intramurals, he eats at the [Quincy] Grille, and he does more things than any normal person can do.”

Steven Biel, director of undergraduate studies in History and Literature, said he is not surprised that McCarthy is moving on after just four years as a lecturer.

“This is great for him. I have always assumed that he would move on to bigger and better things. While part of me hopes he’ll be back, I also want him to get a great tenure-track job after his fellowship,” Biel said.

While McCarthy enjoys notoriety as a social and political force on campus, his outspoken politics have also drawn harsh criticism.

In November 2001, McCarthy attracted national attention when he was placed on a list of 117 academics notably “short on patriotism,” a list published by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

Looking Beyond Cambridge

McCarthy says he plans to spend one year at Chapel Hill doing research for a book on race and American social movements, which will be based in part on his experience rebuilding churches.

Following that, McCarthy hopes to find a tenure-track position at another university, and says he has already begun the long process of applications and interviews.

McCarthy says the time was right to leave, despite his personal attachment to the University.

“I believe that you should never overstay your welcome,” McCarthy said. “I have known since this summer that it is time to move on, personally and professionally.”

Despite his continued scrutiny of Harvard policies, McCarthy says he remains deeply loyal to the University.

“I am only critical of Harvard because I love it so deeply,” McCarthy says. “I believe that all people should have agency to affect change.”

“Sometimes you have to be in the belly of the beast to give it indigestion.”