<p>Doth the lady protest too much?</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=514635[/url]”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=514635</a></p>
<p>As far as her candidacy for the Harvard presidency is concerned, she may have shot herself in the foot.</p>
<p><a href=“http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2006/10/02/News/Gutmann.Defends.Stance.On.Early.Apps-2319391.shtml?sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com[/url]”>http://media.www.dailypennsylvanian.com/media/storage/paper882/news/2006/10/02/News/Gutmann.Defends.Stance.On.Early.Apps-2319391.shtml?sourcedomain=www.dailypennsylvanian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com</a></p>
<p>Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t want it?</p>
<p><a href=“http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/blogs/?section=2[/url]”>http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/blogs/?section=2</a></p>
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<p>They touched on this in Philadelphia mag I think, making the very good point that Harvard’s presidency is not a very desirable post these days.</p>
<p>Harvard is in dire need of reform, but the entrenched interests (particularly in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences) have made and continue to make that all but impossible. Just ask Larry Summers.</p>
<p>Compare it to Penn where there are far fewer god-like egos and everyone is much more willing to give the President slack to achieve the goals of bettering a university where the urge to improve is almost palpable. There is no similar generosity of spirit at Harvard because they feel they already are the best and see no need for sacrifice. They’re Harvard, after all.</p>
<p>Number one in the world and dripping with money. Sounds unbeatable until you consider that General Motors was once in a similar position.</p>
<p>When you’re #1, you have nowhere to go but down.</p>
<p>If Amy wants to go to fancy cocktail parties all day long, she’ll go to Harvard, and if that’s the kind of person she really is, then Harvard can have her. If she wants to make her own dent in the universe, then she will stay at Penn where the planets are coming into alignment for the leap to Greatness.</p>
<p>Well, she was a close finalist last time, but was passed over because she was considered a little green. </p>
<p>She has certain strengths, to be sure, but they may not be what Harvard is looking for. </p>
<p>The “bully pulpit” may demand a more compelling speaker, for one thing. </p>
<p>Then there is the fact that she might have to take a pay cut to return to her alma mater.</p>
<p>Finally, her defense of the indefensible - binding early decision - all but rules her out.</p>
<p>She hasn’t shot anything due to any comment she has made. She obviously does not wish to be the president of Harvard as crazy as that may sound. Her focus in the ED article is concerning Penn and is not a public statement to please the “gods” at Harvard. I know it is blasphemy that someone actually cares about the school they are currently the president of instead of pleasing the trustees of Harvard.</p>
<p>Byerly, Imagine if you will, that you are President of Harvard. Would you leave for Yale?</p>
<p>As in the case of Amy at Penn, of Etchmendy at Stanford and Simmons at Brown etc., I would certainly deny any interest in leaving my current position until the other job is formally offered and the payrate established.</p>
<p>What was it she said when she was quizzed about her interest in the Harvard job? Ah, yes:</p>
<p>I love what Im doing at Penn and plan to be here for the foreseeable future.<br>
Good answer! </p>
<p>Bollinger - then President of Michigan - took a lot of flack back home when it was revealed that he sought the Harvard job but lost out to Summers, and there were those at Columbia who later grumbled about taking a “Harvard reject.”</p>