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On
February 11 Harvard University elected Drew Faust as its 28th
president, and she will take office on July 1, 2007. Besides teaching Ms. Faust
has served as the first dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study since
2001. The Radcliffe Institute is located within the Graduate School of Education
at Harvard where I was a student two years ago. I was never introduced to Ms.
Faust, but I sometimes saw her at the Ed School and once attended her lecture
there. More often I met her with her husband on Sunday afternoons in Harvard
Yard walking briskly along, talking and laughing. They always nodded and spoke
to me as we passed each other, though they had no idea who I was.
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Not
only are we about the same age, but anyone they met there often was part of the
Harvard “family” to them, I’m sure. I am happy that Harvard has decided to
break with its tradition of “men only” presidents, but I will be happier
when the gender (or race or creed) of a president do not matter at
all.
Needless to say, I feel the same way about heads of state, reigning
royalty and, of course, company CEO’s.
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English Academy