According to one article or another, she only went to Bryn Mawr because she couldn't get into Princeton. (So she wouldn't have gone to Harvard anyway.)
She was a freakin' dean of one of their schools (the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies), she's a professor of history at Harvard. She's a University of Pennsylvania graduate, a distinguished scholar. She was the one who brokered some sort of truce after the Larry Summers debacle. She's known for being a good administrator (a hard distinction!). Really, having crimson regalia is not everything in the world. Those brats can stop their bellyaching.
Universities NEED a breath of fresh air once in awhile. There's a reason a lot of universities don't like to hire their own graduates.
I worry, though, that if she does anything "wrong", it'll be an affirmative action-type backlash ("she only got in because she's a woman and Harvard needed to make nice").
I have the same concern. So far, she's been trying to deflect all of the "first female president" attention and direct it towards the "new president" type, but that doesn't always work. It's going to be interesting to see how they react the first time something goes wrong - and, of course, something always goes wrong.
Actually... she doesn't even need backlash. Call me a paranoid feminist but I bet you a large amount of money that people are already saying that, without her having lifted a finger.
I can't quite decide whether I like that she's underplaying the female thing, or whether I think it's sort of destructive. After all, EVERYONE notices that she's a woman; everyone knows Harvard has been having... issues with women.
OMG. Did you notice the title change of the NYTimes article? It went from "Coming of Age in a Changed World" to "A 'Rebellious Daughter' to Lead Harvard". *headdesk*
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Perhaps that's because Harvard wouldn't have admitted her until 1972.
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She was a freakin' dean of one of their schools (the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies), she's a professor of history at Harvard. She's a University of Pennsylvania graduate, a distinguished scholar. She was the one who brokered some sort of truce after the Larry Summers debacle. She's known for being a good administrator (a hard distinction!). Really, having crimson regalia is not everything in the world. Those brats can stop their bellyaching.
Universities NEED a breath of fresh air once in awhile. There's a reason a lot of universities don't like to hire their own graduates.
I worry, though, that if she does anything "wrong", it'll be an affirmative action-type backlash ("she only got in because she's a woman and Harvard needed to make nice").
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I can't quite decide whether I like that she's underplaying the female thing, or whether I think it's sort of destructive. After all, EVERYONE notices that she's a woman; everyone knows Harvard has been having... issues with women.
OMG. Did you notice the title change of the NYTimes article? It went from "Coming of Age in a Changed World" to "A 'Rebellious Daughter' to Lead Harvard". *headdesk*
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