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Summers to Step Down As Harvard President

Lawrence H. Summers is resigning as president of Harvard University at the end of the academic year, the school announced on its Web site Tuesday.

Summers' resignation ends the briefest tenure of any Harvard president since 1862, when Cornelius Felton died after two years in office.

As Harvard's president since 2001, Summers angered faculty members and drew intense criticism for his comments.

Last year, the former U.S. Treasury secretary suggested that innate gender differences between the sexes that might explain why fewer women are in science and math. The comments prompted a 218-185 no confidence vote from Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences last March.

Another no confidence vote was scheduled for Feb. 28. Faculty votes are symbolic because the seven-member Harvard Corporation has sole authority to fire the university's president but they reflect the faculty's frustration.

Derek Bok, Harvard's president from 1971 to 1991, will serve as interim president of the University from July 1 until the conclusion of the search for a new president, the university site said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

This program aired on February 21, 2006. The audio for this program is not available.

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