Harvard picks academic officer as president
Harvard University’s next president will be Lawrence Bacow, a former president of Tufts University and a top academic officer at MIT, who was chosen for his diplomatic and leadership skills at a time when higher education is under fire, the university announced Sunday.
The departure of Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard’s first female president, who is stepping down after 11 years, created an opportunity for Harvard to choose a leader who would reflect the .MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements that have shaped recent campus dialogue.
Instead, it chose Bacow, 66, who is better known as a manager and institutional leader than as a scholar. His selection reflects Harvard’s need for a steady hand at a time when the university must navigate the difficulties of dealing with the Trump administration’s antagonism toward elite universities like Harvard that have large endowments.
That was clear at the news conference to announce the appointment. William F. Lee, chairman of the search committee, described Bacow as the right leader “at a moment when the value of higher education is being questioned, at a moment when the fundamental truth of fact-based inquiry is being questioned and called into doubt.”
Like other universities in its league, Harvard is facing a new 1.4 percent excise tax on the investment returns of endowments that amount to more than $500,000 per student. Harvard administrators have said the tax could cost the university $43 million a year, and would weaken Harvard’s ability to support students and research.