“When the Harvard Corporation chose [Lawrence] Summers to lead Harvard in 2001, there was a sense among its members that the nation’s most prestigious university had become complacent. Summers was brought in to shake things up, and he didn’t disappoint.” His record on fund-raising (one of a university president’s most important duties) was less than stellar, and yet, his big plans and blunt leadership style endeared him to many outside the institution, who saw in Summers a populist dedicated to bringing the famously elite school into the larger Boston community.