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Friday, March 03, 2006
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More Turmoil at Harvard Even as a memorial for UD’s father-in-law takes place there today, the Harvard Graduate School of Design is in an uproar. Via Inside Higher Ed and the Boston Globe , some faculty at GSD seem to have taken advantage of the fact that, as one Harvard observer puts it, “there’s nobody running the university,” to try ousting their controversial dean. Alan Altshuler, a former state transportation secretary and an urban planning type rather than a designer, apparently faces a faculty no confidence vote if he does not step down. This is a developing story, and the information is vague, but one professor there says that "Some in the community believe that, all things being equal, a designer should lead the design school.” The conflict is less, he continues “about Alan Altshuler as a human being than about the priorities and mission of the school." Also mentioned is the fact that Altshuler, appointed a year ago, was a Summers ally, and that Summers was known to dislike modern architecture (which means… Altshuler dislikes it too?). Plus, like Summers, Altshuler has been talking about how GSD faculty needs to teach more. For what it’s worth, here’s UD's take on this so far: It shouldn’t matter a jot whether an architect, a designer, or an urban planner runs GSD, and most reasonable people know this. So the anti-Altshuler forces might want to get off that high horse. And a related point -- we’re told that the dispute is really about “the priorities and mission of the school.” Whoa Nellie. The field of architecture is a notorious ideological, philosophical, professional, and aesthetic morass (listen to Leon Krier and Peter Eisenman go at it sometime ), and you’re never going have clear priorities and missions at GSD beyond platitudes about the dynamic synergy created by diverse design approaches, etc. UD is prepared to believe that GSD’s dean should be removed. But no real reasons for his removal have yet been offered. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ UPDATE: An article in the Crimson makes the rebellious GSD professors look even worse. It says they’re also “angered by [Altshuler’s] public support of the controversial president [that’d be Summers].” Someone needs to acquaint this group with the concept of free speech. |