In the eyes of the world, Harvard University is a world-famous top university, and its president is a natural public focus. But among all previous principals, no one can attract more attention from all sides than the current principal, Summers. There is only one reason: since he took office for two years, he has been trying to carry out "subversive" reforms in this old university, which has attracted different opinions. Regardless of the pros and cons, when it comes to the principal, his evaluation is surprisingly consistent-"radical".
Born as an "economic animal"
Lawrence summers, a familiar name. Less than 50 years old, he has been the chief economist of the World Bank and the deputy secretary of the US Treasury. A few years ago or even more than a decade ago, his name frequently appeared in major media around the world.
Summers 1954 was born in an economic family in Philadelphia. My parents are economics teachers at Pennsylvania State University. His uncle and uncle are both Nobel Prize winners in economics. He was immersed in the economic atmosphere since he was a child. Someone joked that if their family was caught in a traffic jam on the road, the family would discuss the following questions in the car: Does this road need to be widened, will it solve the congestion after widening, or will it lead to more cars driving on this road? Summers himself said that this statement is true.
Although he is a natural "economic animal", Summers doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. He was a math major at MIT when he entered the university. When he entered the university, he realized that all the students around him were experts in mathematics, so he changed to economics. The busybody said: Whoever does not study economics, Summers must be the "most economical" economist.
Sure enough, after graduating from Summers University, he went to Harvard and got a doctorate. After that, he took turns teaching at two alma mater. This is the happiest time in Summers' life. He is obsessed with being able to "study many different problems with many people at the same time", often staying up late, and then going to the pizza place for a big meal.
Former US Deputy Treasury Secretary
It is recognized by American academic circles that studying economics is a shortcut to politics, and Summers has not been refined. 1988, he took the first step in politics and became a part-time consultant of then presidential candidate dukakis. 199 1 year as the chief economist of the world bank. Later, he joined Clinton's campaign. After the latter was elected, Summers was given the post of Deputy Minister of Finance. Summers is like a duck to water. Colleagues described him as sharp-sighted, and he could analyze the impact of the new tax policy on the economy in the future 10. 1995, Rubin became the US Treasury Secretary and paid more attention to Summers. Summers lived up to expectations and wholeheartedly put forward various suggestions to him, especially during the successive financial crises in Mexico and Asia.
However, some of Summers' ideas are surprising. When he was working in the World Bank, a memo was exposed by the media, which even advocated transferring more polluting industries to underdeveloped countries, causing an uproar. However, Summers disagreed. He openly imitated the term "developing country" and coined the term "polluting country".
Review of Harvard reform
In 200 1 year, the former president of Harvard resigned, and there was a heated debate about who would take over the school board. In the end, those who advocated reform prevailed and Summers was elected. President of Harvard is a demanding job, and Summers says he is walking on thin ice. But his "Three Fires for a New Official" seems to have melted the traditional ice of Harvard for more than 300 years.
When Summers took office, it coincided with the "9. 1 1" incident, and many people at Harvard thought that the US government should reflect. Summers felt uncomfortable, and that's where the first fire started. He called a meeting and warned the "left-leaning liberals": "Don't think that you are not from this country.
Part of the family. "He wants to silence teachers and students, which makes Harvard people who once enjoyed academic freedom stunned.
The deans of Harvard colleges have always had autonomy, and the principals are only responsible for nominating deans. This is the "balance of power" that Harvard people like. Summers' second fire is to replace "balance of power" with "central power", and the center of central power is himself. He mastered the financial power and made income and expenditure plans for various colleges. He even warned joseph nye, former assistant secretary of defense and now president of Kennedy School of Government, to control the school's deficit.
Summers' third fire burned on the head of a black professor at Harvard. He had a discussion with a black professor who was disgusted with his rude remarks about affirmative action. One of the tenured professors (Harvard only has 17) left angrily. Summers is still stubborn, which makes him "almost the enemy of all black teachers and students."
Summers disagreed with the style of attaching importance to literature and neglecting rationality, and encouraged students to "think like biologists". He didn't like advocating authority, changed the practice that professors didn't deal with undergraduates, and asked famous professors to give lectures to undergraduates. These practices disgust traditional people. At the same time, Summers has increased investment in places that can't make money for schools, such as education colleges, and strengthened ties with local public middle schools in an attempt to make more middle school students realize their Harvard dream. At Harvard, the evaluation of Summers has been inconclusive.
Divorced, but never sentimental
For all kinds of evaluations, Summers still goes his own way. He thinks that the best way to solve the problem is to argue until one party gives up, and the headmaster should be tolerant. He likes wearing a gray pullover and chatting with students with chubby bellies. Many students like him and think that he is a person who takes others' opinions seriously.
Perhaps because of his strong personality, Summers became a divorced man, and his children lived with their mother. It is said that he has a close relationship with a female professor at Harvard. However, he is never sentimental, let alone reading romantic novels. At the dinner table, he only associates with political and economic people, completely guarding the "economic gene" given to him by his parents and being his "economic animal". ~