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The Summers saga continues
With Lawrence Summers being touted as a potential Treasury Secretary, the kerfuffle over the former Harvard president has renewed. And as famed civil libertarian Harvey Silverglate notes in Forbes, the continuing debate sheds powerful light on the severe problems plaguing the academy, not on Summers himself. Summers--whose run-ins with the politically-correct establishment at Harvard two years ago have been well documented--dared, as Silverglate points out, to ask uncomfortable questions--presumably the very essence of a liberal education. Yet, when he did so, the PC crowd went apoplectic and those in charge--namely, the Corporation--stood silent. Rather than taking a stand in favor of academic excellence and academic freedom , the trustees left a contrary message--that shaking things up, attempting meaningful reform, asking the tough questions was the problem rather than the solution. Let us hope that other trustees, when given the opportunity, come to a different conclusion.
Posted by Sandra E. Czelusniak on November 20, 2008 at November 20, 2008 10:00 AM
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