Harvard President Is Urged to Resign

Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers faced pressure from some faculty to resign Wednesday as a controversy over his comments about women evolved into a broader indictment of his leadership.

One professor spoke of a brewing “rebellion” against Summers after a meeting of at least 250 undergraduate faculty Tuesday, at which speaker after speaker criticized the Ivy League university leader.

“It would not be exaggerated to call this a rebellion,” said the professor, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It was quite a remarkable atmosphere at the meeting. People who have taught here for decades said they have never seen anything quite like it.”

The meeting, held in the ornate Faculty Room, ended with a vote to meet next week to discuss what some were calling a lack of confidence in Summers’ leadership.

There is a chance that the faculty will next week take a vote of confidence in Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary who has led Harvard since 2001.

Summers’ remark last month suggesting that innate differences between the sexes might explain why women have trouble reaching top science jobs has become a rallying cry for many Harvard professors upset with his overall management style.

It was not the first time Summers’ sensitivity has come into question. Early in his tenure, Summers upset black professors by questioning the academic output of star professor Cornel West, who then left Harvard for Princeton University.

Summers, who has apologized for his remarks on women, attended Tuesday’s meeting and described it as “difficult,” a spokeswoman said.