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August 4, 2005

 

Conrad K. Harper wasn’t always against Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers.

Back in 2001, when Harper, the first and only black member of the Harvard Corporation, worked on the presidential search committee, he told the Harvard Law Bulletin, “At this point, I have a sense that I know Larry Summers very well. He’s going to be a splendid president.’’

All that changed after a series of Summer storms, starting with his disputes with several prominent black faculty members and ending with his highly publicized screed on the “intrinsic aptitude’’ of woman and their under representation in science and engineering. In between, Harper wrote, Summers managed to insult attendees at a Native American conference.

But the final straw came last month when the Harvard Corporation approved a three-percent raise for Summers. He had a base salary of $563,000 in the 2004-05 academic year.

“In my judgment, your 2004-05 conduct, implicating, as it does, profound issues of temperament and judgment, merits no increase whatever…I could not and cannot support a raise in your salary,” Harper wrote in a July 14 letter to Summers. “I believe that Harvard’s best interests require your resignation.’’

In an unprecedented move, Harper resigned earlier this week from the seven-member governing board of one of the nation’s most elite universities.

Harper’s resignation letter was made public after a lobbying effort last week led by Charles Ogletree Jr., a Harvard law professor, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of the department of African American studies.

“In our view,” Ogletree and Gates wrote, “this is a matter of grave concern, and it is incumbent upon the Corporation to release the full letter immediately, as this matter goes to the stability and integrity of the University’s governance. In that spirit, we both are planning to demand that the Corporation release the letter immediately, and to take whatever steps that may be necessary to address the issues it raises.”

The letter shows Harper’s growing frustration with Summer’s repeated controversies.

“I had hoped that the unfortunate incident with Professor Cornel West was an aberration,’’ Harper wrote. “Last fall, your comments at a Native American conference insulted the attendees. Last January, your insinuation that women might be inferior as to intrinsic aptitude for science ad engineering was an insult heard worldwide. I saw a pattern. Your statements demeaned those who are underrepresented at the top levels of major research universities.”

Harper was named to the Harvard Corporation in 2000. A graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School, Harper is a partner in Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and served from 1993 to 1996 as the senior legal officer at the U.S. State Department.

In a university news release, Summers thanked Harper for his service without responding to any of Harper’s criticisms. Harper’s “candid and insightful counsel on a wide range of important matters has strongly benefited the university,” Summer said.

Harper was not the only one dissatisfied with Summers’ performance. In March, the faculty of Arts and Sciences approved a resolution expressing no confidence in Summers’ leadership.

Harvard officials said a search for Harper’s replacement would begin soon.

(Compiled from news and wire service reports).

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