Case Western Copycats

The “H” in Harvard is more likely to stand for “homely” than “hipster.”

When it comes to academic politics, however, Harvard appears to be quite the trendsetter. As their counterparts at Harvard did last year, the faculty of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio affirmed a no-confidence motion of their own against University President Edward M. Hundert on March 2. Physics professor Lawrence M. Krauss spearheaded the motion to protest Hundert’s alleged fiscal mismanagement in closing a $40 million budget shortfall.

Did the Summers ouster influence faculty members at Case Western?

“Harvard’s faculty are particularly outspoken,” Krauss says, though the answer seems to be “no.”

“The situation at Case had been brewing for many, many months,” says Professor Charles Rosenblatt. “The no- confidence movement at Case would have proceeded even if nothing of significance was happening at Harvard.”

Even if Case’s faculty-president rift is just a coincidence, a few professors weighed in on their confidence—or lack thereof—in our prez, Lawrence H. Summers.

“I think he’s clearly a brilliant man, very outspoken,” says Krauss.

But his up-front management style may have brought about his resignation.

“A president must be able to work with his or her faculty,” says physics professor Kathleen Kash. “If a working relationship is impossible, then the president must resign, for the good of the institution.”

Looks like an ex-university president support group is in order.