News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education
April 20, 2005
Harvard University officials on Tuesday released a transcript of a speech by President Lawrence H. Summers on American Indian issues. The university gave the transcript to The Harvard Crimson after reports surfaced in an article in The Washington Post that his comments had offended some of those who attended the talk.
One Harvard professor was quoted in The Post as saying of the president’s talk: “It was wrong, it was hurtful, it was unnecessary, and it was offensive.”
In an article published today, The Crimson quoted several of those who attended the talk as saying that Summers had played down the role of white Americans in directly killing Native Americans. The comments that angered scholars compared the number of deaths in battle to the number caused by disease.
The exact comments, according to the transcript, were as follows:
“For everyone who was killed or maimed in some attack by European-descended Americans on the Native American population, for every conscious death that came in war, 10 were a consequence of the diseases that came to North America with the European immigrants. There are fragmentary accounts of a kind of early biological warfare. You know, let’s wrap a blanket around somebody who has smallpox and then encourage some other people to use that blanket. But the vast majority of the suffering that was visited on the Native American population as the Europeans came was not a plan or an attack, it was in many ways a coincidence that was a consequence of that assimilation. Nobody’s plan. But that coincidence caused an enormous amount of suffering.”
In an interview with The Crimson, Summers cited scholarly works that back his view, and some of his critics in the article agreed that he was “factually correct,” but they said the remarks were offensive because they minimized the responsibility of the United States for the deaths of so many American Indians.
Others criticized Summers for comments that they said stressed problems in Native American communities. The transcript does refer to such problems, and also calls for a renewed national focus on issues affecting American Indians.
In an interview with the student newspaper, Summers said that he “did not mean for a moment to diminish the severity or ferocity of the widespread violence that claimed very many lives.” He went on to say that he was urging Harvard to take Native American issues more seriously and “I regret if my remarks were understood otherwise.”
Summers has been under fire — and has apologized repeatedly — for several months now, following comments he made and has since disavowed about why there are so few women in senior positions in science and engineering.
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Let’s not have ‘factually correct’ history keep us from feeling offended. The more I hear about Summers, the more I wish there were greater numbers of his ilk about.I just wish he’d stop apologizing.
T. Edwards, at 7:42 am EDT on April 20, 2005
Prisoner 24601, you require more re-education. Report to Prison Farm (Jos. Stalin/Mao Zedong #1), immediately. Your previous efforts at acceptable thought are now invalidated.
Javart, Inspector at Equality/Liberty Fraternity, at 10:42 am EDT on April 20, 2005
In discourse facts occur in a context to form an overall argument. The overall argument may well be offensive even though the facts cited are correct (cf. Swift’s _An Immodest Proposal_).
It must also be remembered that Summers has an extremely arrogant and contemptous personality. He would be able to offend while reading a laundry list. This has certainly been my impression in my interactions with him personally. To belittle his detractors as intolerant and overly politically correct is presumptous on part of anyone who has not had the misfortune of a personal encouter with Mr. Summers.
Nathan Hill, Universität Tübingen/Harvard University, at 4:35 am EDT on April 21, 2005
“It must also be remembered that Summers has an extremely arrogant and contemptous personality.” Alrighty — name three persons, who would be better. You, perhaps?
Bored To Tears, at 4:51 am EDT on April 22, 2005
This current flap again recalls the old saying “the reason academic politics are so vicious is that there is so little at stake". Come on guys, get back to work.
J.McDonough, M.D., Assoc. Prof. Surgery, at 1:15 pm EDT on April 22, 2005
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There is much at stake, actually.
Actually, there’s quite a lot at stake when you’re talking about the presidency of Harvard University. This person sets a tone for the entire academic enterprise. So far Larry has offended blacks, American Indians, and women with his reading of the “facts” (how we continue to revere this word is beyond me—are we just pretending that post-1960s thinking has not occurred?). Regardless of his intentions, he creates a climate that empowers other to ignore, deny, or attack issues of unequal representation of minorities and women in the upper echelons of our institutions. There are a lot of “facts” out there; What is more interesting and revealing is why and how we choose to pay attention to some of them and not others. Dr. Surgery should be reminded that words can function much like his scalpel, cutting out the different versions of reality that we all inhabit.
Ex-damsel, Dr., at 9:10 am EDT on August 2, 2005