a sense that he truly respected what they did

Harvard: Rich, prestigious and unmanageable?

CNN.com, Thursday, February 23, 2006; Posted: 9:54 a.m. EST
(bold added by blogger)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Leading the world's wealthiest and probably most famous university sounds like the plummiest job in academe -- with a staff, a house, and a half-million dollar salary among the many perks.

But running Harvard isn't easy. Neil Rudenstine, school president from 1991 to 2001, was forced to take a leave of absence for exhaustion in 1994. His successor, Lawrence Summers, announced Tuesday he would resign June 30 after a tumultuous five years, his ambitious agenda to get Harvard's territorial undergraduate and professional schools on the same page done in by faculty revolts and a brusque management style. . . .

"Universities have been around for a long time. It's not unusual to have blips like this," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education. "I think it becomes serious when you have four or five presidents in a row who only last two or three years."

The choice will have to be someone who knows how to get things done in the unusual structure of a university, where faculty -- as they proved with Summers -- hold many of the cards.

"The question is can you buy them off with love," said Claudia Goldin, an economics professor. "That's cheap, but it takes someone to do it. And Larry didn't have the ability to buy them off with love and kindness and affection and a sense that he truly respected what they did, though deep down inside he does."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/23/
harvard.future.ap/index.html