Talking about US senator: You say Ba-RAHK; Summers says BARE-ack
Harvard President Larry Summers seemed to be trying really hard to make a good impression when he spoke at the law school's black alumni weekend. It was a politically perilous appearance given the furor surrounding the recent departure of Conrad Harper, the only black member of Harvard's governing corporation, who said he thought Summers should resign after statements that ''demeaned" members of underrepresented groups, including women and blacks. At the Sept. 16 luncheon, Summers hit a lot of the right notes: He graciously thanked Harper for his service to the university, and modestly noted that ''I've done some things right and some things I might've done a little differently." But then Summers made a slip that grated on some ears when he mispronounced the first name of US Senator Barack Obama, Demcorat of Illinois, at least twice, saying BARE-ack instead of Ba-RAHK. The gaffe became the subject of much chatter over the rest of the weekend and was joked about in public the next day at the lunch where Obama, a Harvard Law School alum, was the featured speaker. When he introduced Obama, high-powered attorney Peter Bynoe joked: ''Rumor has it that since about 24 hours ago, at the luncheon you had yesterday, there's been a debate raging on this campus as to the correct pronunciation of the senator's first name. Is it Ba-RAHK or BARE-ack? I've done my research and I think BARE-ack is not the right pronunciation." Bynoe, who didn't mention Summers by name, got a lot of laughs. When Obama took the podium, he thanked Bynoe for the introduction, saying, ''When folks could not pronounce my name -- and I understand some folks still can't -- Peter was four-square behind me."
SOLOMON'S CHOICE: Groups opposing the Solomon Amendment, which demands that military recruiters be allowed on university campuses even though the ''don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays and lesbians conflicts with schools' nondiscrimination policies, submitted their amicus briefs last week to the Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments in the case Dec. 6. Among them was a group of 40 Harvard Law professors, including Laurence Tribe, Martha Minow, and Dean Elena Kagan. In an interesting twist, the professors disagree with the main argument made by the group of law schools they are ostensibly supporting. The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, or FAIR, which sued the Pentagon, says the law is an unconstitutional violation of universities' First Amendment rights. But the Harvard Law group says instead that the preferred policies of Harvard and other schools actually are in compliance with the Solomon Amendment because they treat the military equally by holding it to the same requirements as all other recruiters. The brief seeks to ''remind the court of what both petitioners have ignored -- the statute just does not mean what Donald Rumsfeld has conveniently interpreted it to mean," Tribe said at a news conference. In fact, the group doesn't want the court to decide the case on constitutional grounds at all, because to say the law infringes on the schools' free speech rights ''could encourage attempts by discriminatory employers, educational institutions, or other groups to evade compliance with various pieces of federal civil rights legislation," they write in their brief.
HE'S BIG ON BOSTON: At his convocation speech at the University of Massachusetts at Boston last week, newly installed Chancellor Michael F. Collins said a top priority for his school this year will be reaching out to neighbors and creating better relations. If so, his newest hire is the man to make inroads. Come October, Andrew O'Brien, state director for the office of US Senator John F. Kerry since 2003, will assume the position of deputy chancellor, charged with all aspects of the university's external relations including government relations, economic development, marketing, and master planning. O'Brien brings a wide-ranging knowledge of Boston to the job. Among other pursuits, he has been special assistant to the director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, chief of staff to the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, and executive director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services in Boston. O'Brien, 38, a native of Marshfield, earned his bachelor's degree at UMass-Amherst and his master's in public administration at Northeastern University. He and his wife and their two children live in West Roxbury. ''As much as I can bring my skills and my contacts to the university, it also is an extraordinary opportunity for me to take my career in a different direction," he said.
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'HUSKY PRIDE': The ranks of big men on campus at Northeastern University this year include a furry, whiskered one. The school this month introduced its latest incarnation of its Husky mascot: King, a 7-month-old black-and-white Siberian husky. The last King Husky (the VII) died in 1989, and Northeastern had not had another one until the new King's arrival. But as Northeastern has transformed from a commuter school into a largely residential campus, the lack of a cohesive campus community has been a major source of student complaints. So ''we are looking to reinstate some of our older traditions designed to engage students in campus life and contribute to an atmosphere of fun and 'husky pride' on campus," spokeswoman Laura Shea wrote in an e-mail. King is owned by Margaret Cook, a 1964 alumna of Northeastern, who earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and raises Siberian huskies in Easton. King has appeared at freshman convocation, the first annual ''Mascot March," and the tailgate party before the season's first football game. His welcome, though, paled in comparison to the first husky, who arrived in 1927. According to school lore, King Husky I came by train from Alaska and was greeted by more than 1,000 students and the university band. Tip? Comment? E-mail campus@globe.com.
