Harvard University President Lawrence Summers announced in a statement Tuesday his plans to resign June 30.
Former Duke President Nan Keohane has been mentioned by some Harvard faculty and students as one of several possible candidates to succeed Summers.
Summer's announcement comes a week before a Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting in which Summers would have faced a no-confidence vote and a motion calling for intervention from Harvard's governing boards.
"I have reluctantly concluded that the rifts between me and segments of the Arts and Sciences faculty make it infeasible for me to advance the agenda of renewal that I see as crucial to Harvard's future," Summers said in the statement addressed to members of the Harvard community. "I believe, therefore, that it is best for the University to have new leadership."
During his five years in office, Summers weathered criticism for what some deemed a blunt, even rude, manner. He was rebuked in January 2005 when he suggested women's "intrinsic aptitude" could help explain why there are fewer women in top math and science positions. The statement, which generated international controversy, sparked debate and a no-confidence vote from Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences March 15, 2005.
This month, tensions reached a boiling point when it was leaked that Summers had forced the resignation of William Kirby, the dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences.
"For many of us that was the last in a series of high administrators in the university who were asked to resign because [Summers] could not effectively work with them," said Judith Ryan, a professor of German and comparative literature at Harvard.
The Fellows of Harvard College-who along with the president make up the Corporation, the school's highest governing body-asked Derek Bok, Harvard's president from 1971 to 1991, to take over as interim president starting July 1. A search committee will appoint a successor.
Keohane, a current member of the Corporation and professor of public affairs at Princeton University, could not be reached for comment. Although her experience leading both Duke and Wellesley College makes her a highly qualified candidate, top administrators at Duke doubted her desire to return to administrative duties.
"I know that she was not interested years ago when Harvard came after her and urged her to be a candidate," said John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations. "I cannot imagine the circumstances under which she would be interested in being the president of Harvard.... She is absolutely delighted to be out of administering and back to the life and mind of a faculty member."
President Richard Brodhead said he expects Keohane's name to top the list of possible candidates for any university president vacancy, but he added that he does not know she would seek the Harvard position.
Rumors swirled in the summer of 2000 that Keohane was a front-runner for the position that Summers ultimately filled. At the time, Keohane had hinted that she would leave Durham at the end of the Campaign for Duke in 2003, and both she and her husband, former political science professor Robert Keohane, attracted interest from top universities.
After stepping down as president of Duke in June 2004, Keohane and her husband took a year of leave before joining Princeton's faculty in 2005.
"I'm sure some people would consider her as a candidate," Ryan said. "She served as president of two institutions, and I think she would be a splendid choice."
Ryan has been one of the leading proponents advocating for Summer's resignation. She called his announcement Tuesday appropriate and courageous.
The Fellows of Harvard College said in a letter that Summers brought "extraordinary vision and vitality" to Harvard during his five years in office. Summers said he sought creative means to attain lofty goals, adding that "there surely have been times when I could have done this in wiser or more respectful ways."
Summers will take a year of sabbatical before rejoining Harvard's faculty as one of 19 elite professors.
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