Waters said at the meeting that many professors are “held hostage to fear” and are afraid to voice their discontent for fear of retribution, citing professors who e-mail her expressing disapproval of University policy, but request that she destroy the e-mails after reading them.
“Fear and manipulation have been used to govern capriciously,” added Skocpol, who said that professors see their speech chilled “in fear that they will be criticized publicly or lose their jobs.”
Professors say Summers will likely move to galvanize support and make amends before next Tuesday’s emergency meeting, where they say a vote of no confidence is likely.
Two senior professors said yesterday that the grievances aired were only the tip of the iceberg, because professors are only now realizing the scope of faculty discontent.
One of those senior faculty members said that in order to stay on as president, Summers must have the support of a critical mass of the most important faculty members.
The speeches and strong applause at the meeting, the professor said, indicate that Summers does not have the support of that critical mass.
But Allison Professor of Economics Lawrence F. Katz said that the yesterday’s meeting belies a greater support for Summers.
“I thought it was a little more inflammatory than necessary,” Katz said.
“The share of Faculty that comes to meetings is not a random sample,” he added, implying that many professors who will support Summers either did not speak or did not attend the meeting.
A GATHERING STORM?
While no professors openly called for Summers to step down as University President, many openly questioned whether Summers’ leadership has been beneficial to the University.
The Faculty must “debate openly whether yours are the social and scholarly agenda that we want pushed from Mass. Hall,” Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory said at the meeting.
But Summers can be formally removed only by the Corporation, the seven-member governing board of the University.
Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn, in an impassioned speech at yesterday’s meeting, criticized the Corporation for its lack of awareness of Faculty discontent.
“To the overseers, I would say, where are you when we need you?” Mendelsohn said rhetorically, singling out Corporation member Robert E. Rubin ’60. Rubin told the New York Times in January that Summers was an “oustanding president,” adding that he did not know of any faculty discontent with Summers’ management style.
