Lawrence Summers’s Critique of Harvard Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Lawrence Summers, former president of and current professor at Harvard University, recently published an article in the New York Times urging the elite universities, including Harvard, to stand up to the Trump administration’s threats to remove billions of dollars in funding — which is, of course, money taken from Americans in the form of taxes.

The article is worth reading because Summers acknowledges that critics are right to be distressed that the universities “continue to tolerate antisemitism in their midst,” “have elevated identity over excellence in the selection of students and faculty,” and “lack diversity of perspective and that they have repeatedly failed to impose discipline and maintain order.” Any reform, Summers points out, “will not happen through universities’ usual deliberative processes, which give too much power to faculty members who have political agendas.” Instead, “it will require strong, determined leaders backed by confident and competent trustees.”

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Paul J. O’Reilly

Paul J. O’Reilly is the president of Thomas Aquinas College.

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Lawrence Summers, former president of and current professor at Harvard University, recently published an article in the New York Times urging the elite universities, including Harvard, to stand up to the Trump administration’s threats to remove billions of dollars in funding — which is, of course, money taken from Americans in the form of taxes.

The article is worth reading because Summers acknowledges that critics are right to be distressed that the universities “continue to tolerate antisemitism in their midst,” “have elevated identity over excellence in the selection of students and faculty,” and “lack diversity of perspective and that they have repeatedly failed to impose discipline and maintain order.” Any reform, Summers points out, “will not happen through universities’ usual deliberative processes, which give too much power to faculty members who have political agendas.” Instead, “it will require strong, determined leaders backed by confident and competent trustees.”