美國哈佛大學(xué)校長勞倫斯·薩默斯21日宣布，他決定今年6月辭去校長職位。這一決定終于結(jié)束了因校長與教員難以彌合的矛盾給這所全美最著名高校造成的混亂。薩默斯上任以來，因其作風強硬和語出驚人而惹出不少麻煩，更成為哈佛370年校史上第一個被通過“不信任案”的校長。也許卸下一身官職，回歸學(xué)術(shù)，對才華橫溢、卻又口無遮攔的薩默斯來說是個最好的選擇。

The President Summers is wearing a kata, a Tibetan ceremonial scarf given in greeting at Memorial Church. In his five-year tenure at Harvard University, President Lawrence H. Summers frequently found himself in the spotlight because of rifts with faculty at the Ivy League institution.  Shortly after he took office, a handful of prominent black studies professors, including Cornel West, left the university after a dispute with him. Last year, he was widely criticized for suggesting that innate ability may partly explain why few women reach top science posts. Tuesday, facing the second no-confidence vote by faculty members in a year, Summers announced he would leave June 30, bringing to a close the briefest tenure of any Harvard president since 1862, when Cornelius Felton died after two years in office. "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 wrote in a letter posted on the school's Web site. Harvard's arts and sciences faculty was scheduled to take its second no-confidence vote next Tuesday, and there were signs that his support from the school's governing board was wavering. Several newspapers have reported that the board, known as the Corporation, had contacted faculty members to discuss his possible departure. Last March, the arts and sciences faculty passed a 218-185 no confidence vote in Summers — the first known instance of such an action in the 370-year history of the university. Faculty votes are symbolic because the seven-member Harvard Corporation has sole authority to fire the university's president. Judith Ryan, the professor of German and comparative literature who introduced the latest no-confidence resolution, said Summers' resignation was appropriate. "I'm certainly glad we're not going to have to have that faculty meeting on Feb. 28th, which would have been agonizing for both sides," she said. The latest vote was called following the resignation of Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean William Kirby. Some faculty believe he was pushed out by Summers, though Kirby has said the decision was mutual. Summers has led America's wealthiest university, with an endowment of more than $25 billion, since 2001. Supporters note that he increased access to a Harvard education with augmented financial aid, boosted science programs and diversified the school's faculty. "Larry is a friend and I believe in the vision of renewal that he set forth for the university," said David Gergen, a former White House adviser who teaches at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "He recognized that it was almost impossible to move things forward." Derek Bok, Harvard's president from 1971 to 1991, will serve as interim president from July 1 until a new president is found. Summers, a former Harvard economics professor and U.S. Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, said he will return to teaching at Harvard after a year sabbatical. (Agencies)

Vocabulary:

tenure: the status of holding one's position （任期） rift: dispute,quarrel（爭執(zhí)） no confidence vote :（“不信任案） augmented: enlarged（增大的） interim president:（臨時代理校長） sabbatical: （休假）