Former Harvard President Lawrence Summers talks protests and free college

A speaking event featuring Lawrence Summers — who is not known by many outside of academia — filled Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall on Monday.

Perhaps he was invited because of his resignation from his post as president of Harvard University after a no-confidence vote from the faculty, or the fact that he worked for two different presidents — of the United States. He also just comes with controversy, said College freshman and Penn Democrats Legislative Director Ari Goldfine, “from a lot of perspectives.”

Summers talked about the economy, education and the government in an interview format with economics professor Rebecca Stein.

At one point, Stein asked Summers how he would recommend balancing student concerns with the need for “continuing an open and civic discussion.” Stein was referencing student protests against systemic racism last semester, like the ones at University of Missouri and Yale University. The argument used in some of the backlash against these protests is that these students want to be shielded from viewpoints that challenge their own.

Summers said that he couldn’t comment specifically on the situation at the University of Missouri since he was not part of it, but he said he expects all students to encounter some sort of discomfort in their classes. Otherwise, he said, “Penn has failed you.”

“The idea that comfort should be the defining value in education rather than challenging the search for truth seems to be an idea that threatens what is the very basis of American universities and the reason why American universities are the elite universities of the world,” Summers said.

Summers was later asked if Harvard should make their tuition free and if Penn should follow suit. “I don’t think free tuition is a good idea,” he said. He added that he believes strongly in the idea of need-based access to higher education.

“I don’t think [there is] any reason why families that can comfortably afford to pay for their children’s education shouldn’t do so,” he added.

Summers also revealed his support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Stein asked what the first challenge will be for the incoming president and Summers responded, “I hope it will be her challenge as President of the United States — and I think the central challenge of whoever the next president is — will be to provide for steadily improving opportunities through jobs for middle class families in the United States,” Summers said.

Summers went on to say that a growing economy will help drive success with almost all other national aspirations we have, “while a stagnating zero sum economy will be one with more resentment, more isolationism and less vision.”

“You sound more like a Republican,” Stein responded. Summers, however, said that his emphasis on fairness and helping the poor should show that he is not like a Republican but is standing for what the Democratic Party has always stood for.

Summers, who worked for both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama during their administrations, also talked about the differences between the two.

“If you have a meeting with President Obama at 9:15 in the morning, you better be in his office at 9:05 because there’s a possibility he will want to start early,” Summers said. “If you have a meeting with President Clinton at 9:15 in the morning then you needn’t worry; he could be at his office at 9:20.”

Summers said that both presidents had their own way of running things and by doing it their own way, they were both successful.

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