(Bloomberg) -- Harvard University named John Manning, a scholar of federal courts and administrative law, as its permanent provost, the second-most powerful leadership role at the university where he will oversee academic policies.
Manning, who graduated from Harvard College and its law school, worked in the Justice Department and served clerkships with US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Judge Robert Bork on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
A longtime faculty member at Harvard and Columbia law schools, Manning was described as the “real deal” by the right-leaning Federalist Society when appointed as dean of Harvard Law School in 2017.
Harvard has been reshuffling its leadership after a period of tumult centered on campus protests that’s turned into a broader discussion about the direction of the university.
The institution has been under intense scrutiny from Congress, led by Republicans who called Harvard’s president to testify last year about antisemitism. Claudine Gay’s widely derided testimony and allegations of plagiarism ultimately led to her to step down.
Alan Garber, the longtime provost, became interim president and this month was named president until mid 2027.
“John is a widely respected colleague, rigorous scholar, and celebrated teacher who is admired as much for his dedication to Harvard as for his broad and deep intellect,” Garber said in a statement Thursday.
Manning’s more conservative stance and background bucks the trend at Harvard, according to Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology and well-known author. Earlier this year, more than three-quarters of Harvard’s faculty of Arts and Sciences said they identified as liberal in an annual survey conducted by the student newspaper.
“It’s an excellent choice, not just because of his proven skill in academic leadership, but also because it pushes back against the tide of viewpoint homogeneity in elite universities,” said Pinker, who earlier this year proposed a series of changes including adopting a clear policy on academic freedom, promoting a wide range of viewpoints and embracing institutional neutrality by avoiding pronouncements on events of the day.
Garber adopted the latter in May.
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