Professors, Kirby, Summers Meet Informally

A small group of professors met with University President Lawrence H. Summers and Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby yesterday to discuss concerns about Summers’ tenure in light of recent faculty discontent.

While attendance at the meeting was capped at 30 and professors were asked to register for the meeting in advance, far fewer than 30 professors actually attended the discussion.

Kirby wrote in an e-mail last night that the conversation—though sparsely attended—was valuable.

“Irrespective of numbers, this was a very good opportunity for a direct exchange of views and perspectives,” Kirby wrote.

In an e-mail last night, Summers’ spokeswoman Lucie McNeil said the president thought the meeting was “productive and informative.”

In an e-mail to faculty members on Monday, Kirby explained that the informal meetings—the next of which will take place on Wednesday afternoon—are designed to allow professors who did not have a chance to speak at Feb. 22 full meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to express their views.

Kirby wrote in an e-mail to The Crimson on Monday that the informal discussions are not meant to limit what professors discuss at FAS faculty meetings.

“None of this precludes what colleagues may wish to discuss at formal faculty meetings, but I hope that these sessions can provide additional venues for dialogue,” he wrote.

On Wednesday, Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory ’82 put a motion of censure of Summers on the docket for the March 15 Faculty meeting.

One member of the Faculty Council told The Crimson that Matory’s motion likely means that discussion of Summers’ leadership will again be the focus of the meeting.

“Unless somehow it’s taken off the agenda, people will discuss it,” the Council member said.

The motion can only be taken off the agenda if Matory removes it.

—SARA E. POLSKY