Lawrence Summers said on Tuesday he would stand down as Harvard president at the end of the academic year, ending an acrimonious power struggle that pitted him against the biggest and most influential of the 10 faculties that comprise the university.
Mixed feelings at Harvard following resignation
His resignation pre-empted a faculty of arts and sciences meeting next week that would have probably resulted in a second vote of no confidence in 11 months. In a letter tinged with bitterness, Mr Summers said working at Harvard had been “one of the great joys of my professional life”, but recent years had “not been without their strains and moments of rancor”.
“I have reluctantly concluded that the rifts between me and segments of the arts and sciences faculty make it infeasible for me to advance the agenda of renewal that I see as crucial to Harvard’s future,” he said.
Derek Bok, who served as president from 1971 to 1991, will step in as interim president from July 1 until the Harvard Corporation, the school’s governing board, chooses a long-term successor.
Following an expected year-long sabbatical, Mr Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, will return to the faculty as a university professor.
Mr Summers fell out with some academics over what they saw as his outspoken views and his sometimes blunt managerial style. The dispute burst into the open last year when he was heavily criticised for suggesting that “issues of intrinsic aptitude” might be responsible for the dearth of women in science positions at top universities. Ed Glaeser, professor of economics and supporter of Mr Summers acknowledged “the acrimony had reached such heights that this was probably for the best”.
