“The newspapers have not covered economic policy as much as maybe the should have,” Moss said.

Wells said the outpouring of support for the letter from his colleagues would help to erase the Business School’s reputation as a politically right-of-center institution.

He said the “traditional view” of the school is that it’s a conservative breeding ground, but that perception is “just not true.”

“It is the West Point of capitalism, but people aren’t as conservative as the image is,” Wells said.

Organizers of the letter decided they would only allow tenured and emeritus professors to sign. Moss said the move was designed to avoid situations in which tenured professors would encourage junior faculty to join the open letter effort. “Requests from senior professors can seem like they have some sort of pressure attached,” Moss said.

Wells said that no business school resources were used in the open letter effort, and that professors who signed represent only themselves—not their institutions.

Wells said that organizers are still accepting further signatures from senior faculty.

The White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign did not respond to repeated calls from The Crimson requesting comment yesterday.

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.