High marks for Harvard's Faust
A certain former US president has famously been called "the first black president." Could Harvard leader Drew Faust merit such a sobriquet?
"You remember what they used to call Bill Clinton? The first what? Well, I'm beginning to suspect we have another one . . . and I'm not talking about Barack Obama," J. Lorand Matory, cochairman of the Association of Black Faculty, Administrators, and Fellows, told a crowd at the association's recent Start the Year Right Party.
Looking at Faust, who was standing nearby, the anthropology professor went on: "I don't know how she tans, but I sure want this president to keep on doing what she's doing. Sister President, you keep on standing up for the people who have been pushed down," he said to laughter and applause at the Queen's Head Pub, referring to Faust's efforts to increase diversity and address allegations of racial profiling by campus police.
Faust, taking the mike, vowed to work with the association to expand the number of black faculty, students, and administrators to the point where future parties would have to be held elsewhere. Harvard Stadium, perhaps? "It's a commitment we will work to achieve," Faust said.
Some parting shots
Speaking of Matory, his days at Harvard are numbered. After 18 years at the Ivy League campus, the renowned scholar on the African Diaspora says he will leave for Duke University in July 2009 to head its African & African American Studies department.
"Duke made it very clear that they very much wanted to have me," he said. "The dean of [Harvard's] Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Mike Smith, did not make that as clear." Harvard's counteroffer was "not as generous in either material terms or in tone."
Matory is well known for his opposition to then-Harvard president Lawrence Summers and his vocal criticisms of Israel. As head of the black faculty association, he's also criticized the lack of diversity among Harvard's tenured faculty ranks. "Harvard clearly has an insufficient number of African-American professors, and it's being abandoned by one more," he said.
Speeders beware
The loop around the University of Massachusetts at Boston has long been likened to a raceway, a flat, wide stretch that turns even demure drivers into speed demons. Now, a concerted crackdown by campus police on the Columbia Point campus has turned the speedway into a speed trap.
The last few months, the sight of flashing police lights and dejected motorists has become a familiar one at the commuter school, as traffic stops have risen 70 percent from last summer. State Police also patrol the campus and are regularly seen pulling over speeders traveling to and from Morrissey Boulevard. University officials say the increase mirrors a rise in traffic on campus roads. The closing of the underground parking garage has forced faculty and students to drive around the campus to surface lots, and more Columbia Point residents are using the loop as a southbound shortcut.
"People are traveling two to three times farther than before," said Phil O'Donnell, the university's public safety director. "That back road can be tempting."
Campus police stepped up enforcement because more students and faculty must cross campus roads to reach the main campus from the parking lots. Yet many drivers are getting off with just a warning, as the number of citations handed out has remained relatively steady. O'Donnell said the stops are enough to deter speeding.
MIT, meet KIT
The founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William Barton Rogers, was said to have used the polytechnic school of Karlsruhe, Germany, as a model. Nearly 150 years later, the tables have turned: The Germans have come to Cambridge to model themselves after MIT.
Karlsruhe, a city of 300,000 in southwest Germany, is home to KIT, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. The name is no accident: The Germans are looking to MIT as an example as they reinvent their academic system.
The Technical University of Karlsruhe and the Research Center of the Helmholtz Association merged earlier this year to create KIT, the first school of its kind in Germany, where research historically has been conducted separately at universities and research centers. Research centers in Germany are better funded and have more freedom for research.
The KIT has an annual budget of about $1 billion, enabling it to hire scientists from all over the world. KIT wants to compete with, and in the long run, to even challenge MIT. Last week, a group of KIT leaders toured MIT's campus, taking a close look at the Industrial Liaison Program, licensing strategies, and entrepreneurial culture. Jens Fahrenberg, head of the Innovations Department at KIT, said he was impressed by what he saw.
"We are miles behind what is going on here," he said. "But we believe we have the potential to catch up some day."
At MIT, its German counterpart was largely unknown before the KIT officials arrived. José Pacheco, program manager of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, had never heard about the institute before.
"But that's a wonderful thing. We see them as friends, even if we will compete for students," he said.
Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with Ask the Teacher, an advice column. To submit tips to Campus Insider, contact Peter Schworm at schworm@globe.com and Tracy Jan at tjan@globe.com. 