Summers nomination cheered at Harvard

Some former foes see a better fit on Obama team

Beset by critics of his management style and controversial statements, Lawrence Summers announced in February 2006 he would step down as Harvard's president. (Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff)

They're moving on.

Even some of Lawrence Summers's harshest critics during his stormy five-year tenure as Harvard University's president applauded the announcement yesterday that Summers would become a chief economic adviser to President Barack Obama. More than two years after faculty pressured Summers to resign, many said his new post helping to bolster the nation's sagging economy - rather than his previous one of running one of the world's great universities - is much more suited to the talents of the brash, brilliant economist.

"It's time to put the past behind us and support Summers in a really critical position," said Kay Kaufman Shelemay, a professor of music and of African and African American studies who had criticized Summers's leadership. "I will sleep better at night knowing that he is watching out for my 401(k)."

Summers, according to nearly a dozen faculty interviews yesterday, has acknowledged his mistakes at Harvard and learned from them. He currently is a professor in Harvard's Kennedy School.

"Larry is sorry. If anything, he'd be far more sensitive in relating to women now," said sociology professor Orlando Patterson.

In his most publicized faux pas, Summers sparked international outrage by speculating during a 2005 economics conference that intrinsic aptitude might help explain the under-representation of women in science and engineering at top universities and research institutions. He later apologized, and established two task forces on the training, recruitment, and advancement of women at Harvard.

But the remarks led to an outpouring of faculty complaints about his aggressive management style, which some critics said was evident from the beginning of his tenure.

Some said Summers browbeat popular African-American studies professor Cornel West and ultimately drove him away to Princeton. Others chided Summers for disrespecting those who disagreed with him by rolling his eyes during meetings.

"He lacked the manners to run Harvard and his interactions with people, which was an important part of that job, left much to be desired," Patterson said.

Some faculty were also angered over what they perceived as Summers's support of his friend, star economics professor Andrei Shleifer, after a federal judge ruled in 2004 that Shleifer had conspired to defraud the US government by making personal investments in Russia that conflicted with his government consulting contract to advise Russia. Harvard paid the government $26.5 million to settle the case. Summers has said he recused himself from the matter.

Under pressure from mounting criticism, Summers resigned as president in 2006.

All that now is in the past and should not haunt him in his new role, Patterson and others said. Long rumored to be in the running for Treasury secretary, a role that he had under President Bill Clinton, Summers, 53, is a better fit as head of the National Economic Council, they said.

"I think it's very smart not to put him in the Treasury, which is a more public role and more symbolically important for people who may have concerns about Larry's past," Patterson said.

That's of little comfort to one vocal detractor.

Nancy Hopkins, a biology professor at MIT who had walked out in protest during Summers's talk on women and science, said she remains worried by his "pattern of bad judgment and failure to listen."

"This is a man who brought Harvard to a standstill by not one speech, but by a series of actions," Hopkins said. "So I am concerned, not to mention slightly insulted" by his appointment.

At Harvard, though, collegiality seems to have trumped any lingering sour taste. His experience as Treasury secretary and understanding of the economic crisis, not his abbreviated Harvard presidency, are more relevant to his job in Obama's administration, other faculty said.

"Even Summers's critics have to acknowledge that he's a brilliant technical economist, and probably better suited for this role than anyone in the country," said Steven Pinker, a Harvard psychology professor and a supporter of Summers's.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.