<p>It's most likely a hoax from the Lampoon...</p>
<p>I don't see how the Lampoon could reach all undergrads in one e-mail. Everyone I know here received one.</p>
<p>The email read:</p>
<p>
[quote]
To address concerns regarding Dr. Summers’ previous tenure, we will be hosting an open forum discussion with Dr. Summers to be held in Sanders
Theater on February 5, at 5:00 P.M. Three hundred seats will be
available for undergraduate students, to be distributed by an open
lottery. To enter the lottery, please call the Presidential Search at (<em>) *</em><em>-</em>*
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are multiple versions of the emails, with different phone numbers. The phone numbers are cell numbers of various editors of the Crimson--the only purpose of this prank was to spam phones.</p>
<p>Is that your hypothesis or do you have legit. sources?</p>
<p>Legit Sources.</p>
<p>You're right. Please disregard the earlier e-mail labeled "Announcement from the
Presidential Search Committee." The e-mail was a hoax. We are
currently looking into the source of this misinformation.</p>
<p>Given the substantial confusion caused by the incident, we feel
compelled to make the actual announcement one day early. Former Dean of
Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan, has been selected as the 28^th
President of Harvard University. An official press release will be
issued in the upcoming hours, as well as a more formal introduction.</p>
<p>That's most likely a hoax as well.
We're investigating now to confirm.</p>
<p>P.S. Who the hell uses a '^' sign between 28 and th?</p>
<p>The e-mail was sent from a <a href="mailto:gross@fas.harvard.edu">gross@fas.harvard.edu</a> when Dean Gross' real e-mail address is <a href="mailto:gross@math.harvard.edu">gross@math.harvard.edu</a>.</p>
<p>It's a prank.</p>
<p>Why is the email from "<a href="mailto:psearch@harvard.edu">psearch@harvard.edu</a>," an address that has never been used before by the presidential search committee in their emails to the student body?</p>
<p>And it's not difficult to get a message to everyone in the undergraduate class- each house has an email list (<a href="mailto:straus-list@hcs.harvard.edu">straus-list@hcs.harvard.edu</a>, for example). I'm sure someone playing around with the email system could easily do it.</p>
<p>And why hasn't any news organization reported anything about this whatsoever?</p>
<p>Most importantly, Hakima, as even you note, it's incredibly unlikely that they would reinstate Lawrence Summers.</p>
<p>ETA: Of course, this post was a little late. However, as xjayz notes, this email is undoubtedly a hoax as well.</p>
<p>Or, <a href="mailto:hcdean@fas.harvard.edu">hcdean@fas.harvard.edu</a></p>
<p>As a college administrator, I can assure you that the message from "Dean Gross" is a hoax too. The release of an announcement as major as this will be carefully crafted in conjunction with a press conference so that the university can create the spin and message that it wants as a first opinion. There's no way that Dean Gross would scoop the international media by telling the undergraduates early. There's no need to tell undergrads who the next president is; just the need to say that the earlier message was a hoax. And frankly, it's political leaders, prospective donors, and the world's intellectual community who need to get the courtesy of a formal announcement. The reaction of the undergraduate student body, while not inconsequential, is much farther down the list of priorities.</p>