Faculty debates Summers move

Some tempers flared last night as Harvard University arts and sciences professors held their first faculty meeting since Lawrence H. Summers announced his plans to step down as president. A few professors debated whether the faculty attacks on the president, who is Jewish, were fueled by anti-Semitism.

The meeting's mood overall was calm and conciliatory, with most professors encouraging colleagues to move beyond the controversy that led to Summers's resignation two weeks ago and focus on university initiatives. The meeting had been scheduled essentially as an opportunity for professors to openly discuss Summers's resignation.

The flare-up between two Summers supporters and his critics showed that some tension remains among arts and sciences faculty, the group that pushed for a no-confidence vote and ultimately drove Summers to quit.

Ruth Wisse, a professor of Yiddish literature who spoke up during the meeting, said afterward that anti-Semitism was a part of one of the first major controversies between Summers and some faculty. Wisse said during the meeting that some of Summers's attackers had signed a petition -- which she considered anti-Semitic -- that called for Harvard to divest from Israel. She said she was not implying that all of the president's critics were anti-Semitic.

Summers had provoked some professors in 2002 when he said that faculty calling for divestment from Israel were ''taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent." Some faculty said then that his comments had a chilling effect on the divestment proponents.

''That was one of the first things he was publicly attacked for in the faculty, and that happens to be part of the history of this case," Wisse said.

Wilfried Schmid, a mathematics professor, started the debate about anti-Semitism when he rose early in the 90-minute meeting. Schmid complained that Wisse, law professor Alan Dershowitz, and economist Edward Glaeser had ''insinuated" anti-Semitism, although he noted that Glaeser had apologized.

Glaeser was quoted in the Crimson, Harvard's student newspaper, comparing an article on a campus controversy to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic hoax. Glaeser later said he didn't mean to imply anti-Semitism.

''To them and others I can only say, please, stop poisoning the atmosphere at this university," Schmid said, according to a copy of his remarks he provided to the Globe. The meeting was closed to the media.

Schmid said the Summers controversy was about the governance of the university, not politics.

''My own political views, I suspect, are not so different from those of president Summers," he said. ''In particular, I find his lack of political correctness refreshing. Yet, I strongly disagree with the direction in which he has taken this university."

Wisse spoke after Schmid and another professor who said anti-Semitism was not the issue.

Later in the meeting, Judith Ryan, professor of German and comparative literature, rose to respond to Wisse. Ryan, who sponsored the no-confidence motion in Summers that would have taken place last week had he not resigned, apparently felt implicated in Wisse's remarks, according to two professors who attended the meeting.

Ryan, the professors said, said she had not signed the divestment petition and was hurt by Wisse's comments. She said she respected Wisse and hoped they could speak about the issue one-on-one at some point.

Ryan could not be reached last night. Wisse said she did not mention Ryan and didn't know why Ryan had taken her comments personally.

''I don't understand this for the life of me," she said after the meeting.

Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.