Profs Push for Early Meeting Finish

After nearly two months of intense debate over University President Lawrence H. Summers’ leadership, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences tried to return to business as usual at its monthly meeting yesterday. But an hour-long questions period again forestalled discussion of the curricular review, leaving just half an hour for a presentation and questions on study abroad.

Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby said last year he hoped to bring parts of the review to a vote this semester, but said at the outset of yesterday’s meeting that he no longer expects such a quick resolution to the review.

Such a vote without discussion, Kirby said, “is not possible, nor is it desirable.”

“Together, all of us, as a Faculty, need to review, renew, and re-energize the Harvard College curriculum in our own time and in our own way,” he said.

Following Kirby’s statement, questions period opened with remarks from Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory ’82, who has been a vocal critic of Summers in recent months.

Stating that “business cannot proceed as usual” in the wake of last month’s vote, Matory called on Summers and the Harvard Corporation to respond directly to faculty complaints of restrictions on their free speech.

“It is unquestionably the case that members of this Faculty should feel entirely free to question my opinions or policies without fear that I will engage in any kind of ad hominem attack,” Summers responded.

With less than half the attendance of the March 15 meeting, which culminated in a vote of “lack of confidence” in Summers, yesterday’s discussion in University Hall was markedly less tense than the Faculty’s three previous meetings. Only one person clapped in response to Matory’s criticism yesterday, compared to the loud applause following similar speeches at earlier meetings.

Faculty were slated to discuss proposals and reports related to the curricular review, which has been all but obscured by the fallout from Summers’ comments in January on women in science.

Partly in response to this delay, Porter Professor of Medieval Latin Jan Ziolkowski asked during questions period that Faculty meetings begin half an hour earlier, so that Faculty could have two hours in which to complete their business.

Kirby echoed Ziolkowski’s concern.

“It is a source of real frustration to me and the Faculty of how little business we can actually get done in the time allotted,” Kirby said.

Faculty members were left with half an hour to discuss the report of the Committee on Education Abroad, the first of three docketed agenda items.

Gutman Professor of Latin American Affairs John H. Coatsworth presented the report, which aims to double the number of students studying abroad within the next five years through improvements in financial aid, advising, and faculty support.

Professor of the Practice of Slavic Languages Patricia R. Chaput expressed concern that the study abroad report lacks a vision.

“What I missed in the section of realistic objectives is an articulation of what we hope our students will accomplish through study abroad,” Chaput said.

“I found some of the suggestions to be, I’m afraid, a bit naive,” she continued, referring in part to the proposal that science students engage in research abroad.

The meeting reached its scheduled end after about 15 minutes of discussion of the study abroad report and before the faculty reached the remaining two items on the agenda, both of which also dealt with the curricular review.

But when a representative of the docket committee motioned to extend the meeting by half an hour, the majority of faculty members answered with a resounding “nay” and started to file out of the University Hall meeting room.

At the meeting, Summers also named this year’s new Harvard College Professors. The new recipients of the title—the most distinguished a professor can attain at the College—are Reid Professor of English and American Literature Philip J. Fisher, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Howard Georgi, Professor of Psychology Daniel T. Gilbert, Professor of Economics Caroline M. Hoxby, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures Lino Pertile, and Herchel Smith Professor of Computer Science Margo I. Seltzer.

—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Anton S. Troianovski can be reached at atroian@fas.harvard.