In addition to readings by renowned economists Joseph Stieglitz, William Easterly and Amartya Sen, Summers also assigned some of his own published work. Readings that discussed Summers’ tenure as secretary of the Treasury and chief economist of the World Bank were also on the syllabus, like a recent memoir by Robert E. Rubin ’60, Summers’ former colleague.

The class also read “Larry Summers: War on the Earth,” an article which attacks the infamous Toxic Waste Memo which Summers signed off on when he was at the World Bank.

“It was great that he gave us reading that criticized him,” Koh says, “It would have so easy for him to sweep that stuff under the carpet.”

Some students, too, were critical of Summers.

Quigley, called the “anti-Larry” by one of her classmates, says she never hesitated to stand up for her beliefs in class.

“He would often get us to read things he had written, and he was afraid that we wouldn’t criticize him,” she says. “But I’m not afraid to say what I think.”

But other students found that having the president as your professor took some getting used to.

“It’s a little bit more of a pressurized situation,” remembers David H. Stearns ’07, who is also a Crimson editor, “because you are being taught by a really famous person.”

“He has a habit of circling his index finger and thumb around his mouth while he’s listening to you,” one student recalls. “And sometimes he’ll glance away, stare at an empty spot in the room—and it’s just his pose. But it’s fairly disconcerting to a freshman trying desperately to impress him and make a fairly intelligent point to the president of the school and the world’s expert on this topic.”

Though Summers’ quirks remained, conversation became less stilted by the seminar’s second meeting, some students say, pointing to Summers’ open mind.

But Merve G. Emre ’07 says it all boiled down to a box of cookies which “totally broke the ice.”

The cookies—which were Emre’s suggestion—became a staple of the seminar’s Monday-night meetings.

“I thought it was great that he didn’t think he was too cool to eat cookies with us. Everything was down to our level,” Koh says. “He explained things clearly, he let us talk a lot, he ate cookies with us, and then he’d go, ‘Well, when I was chief of the World Bank.’”

Despite his reputation as a fierce debater, students say Summers gave them plenty of chances to air their opinions.

“A lot of people will ask if he’s combative, argumentative,” Stearns says. “Sure, he would come at you and make you defend your point with facts and theories, but if you did, he respected it.”