Two Senior Professors Consider Leaving

At least two senior faculty members, including Professor of Economics Caroline M. Hoxby ’88, are considering leaving Harvard for positions at other top institutions.

Word of their possible departures comes amid the recent controversy over University President Lawrence H. Summers’ leadership, which some say has emboldened schools in their efforts to recruit top Harvard professors.

Hoxby confirmed last night that she is seriously considering an offer from Stanford University, but she has made no final decision.

“I really just don’t know,” Hoxby said. “They’re both top economics departments.”

Another professor, Daniel S. Fisher of the physics department, has told both the Boston Globe and the Yale Daily News that he is looking for jobs outside of Harvard. Fisher declined to comment for this article.

Discontent with Summers has been cited by Fisher as a reason for his thoughts of leaving Harvard, according to the Yale Daily News.

“The atmosphere is horrendous,” Fisher said. “Summers runs things like a dictator.”

But Hoxby told The Crimson yesterday that Summers’ comments about women in science have not directly influenced her consideration.

“That would be like saying one day’s remarks have influenced a major career decision,” Hoxby said.

Hoxby emphasized Harvard’s academic atmosphere as a key determinant in her decision.

“The environment that Harvard offers will have an effect on my decision,” she added.

“APPEARANCE OF INSTABILITY”?

In recent weeks, universities appear to have been stepping up efforts to recruit Harvard faculty members. Some professors have suggested that these schools are becoming more aggressive on account of perceived discontent among faculty members critical of President Summers.

“I do know colleagues have received both formal and informal offers,” said Chair of the Music Department Kay K. Shelemay.

She added that while universities are always looking to recruit senior faculty from other institutions, these efforts have been encouraged by Harvard’s recent turmoil.

“I think it’s simply that when any institution experiences a period of controversy, that creates an appearance of instability,” Shelemay said.

Chair of the Sociology Department Mary C. Waters told the Boston Globe that she has recently received e-mails from three universities, two which had never pursued her before, asking if they should consider making her employment offers.

“I don’t want to leave at this point,” she told the Globe, but said she is concerned that others may choose to depart.

Maria M. Klawe, dean of Princeton’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, said that while she personally has not directly contacted professors at Harvard, “it’s probably true that there are number of different departments, not just at Princeton, who are saying ‘We tried to get someone years ago, maybe now we have a chance,’” Klawe said.

Klawe stressed that for most professors, the decision to move from one university to another is a complicated one.

“The things that cause a person to leave a university are not usually a single event,” she said. “It’s always a very complex set of factors.”

And while very few Harvard professors leave each year, President Summers said yesterday that Harvard does its best to convince them to stay.

“We work very hard in a number of different situations each year when other universities try to recruit valued faculty from here,” Summers said last night. “That’s something we always do, and it’s very important.”

—Staff writer Evan H. Jacobs can be reached at ehjacobs@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Daniel J. T. Schuker can be reached at dschuker@fas.harvard.edu.