“The reason I was chosen was that I had been in Parliament in England, so it was thought that I was a natural to be in this position,” he says.
But MacFarquhar argues that the role of a Parliamentarian in Britain is very different from the position of the Parliamentarian here.
“Most Parliamentarians [in England] are out to break the rules, and it’s the job of the Speaker of the House to make sure that they keep to the rules,” he says. “The reason I was chosen [at Harvard] was fairly obvious, though it was a mistake in some ways.”
MacFarquhar served as Parliamentarian under both Summers and his predecessor, Neil L. Rudenstine, and describes the different experiences working with each president.
“I think that Neil Rudenstine...was rather uncomfortable with the idea that someone on his right-hand side would tell him what to do in a pinch,” MacFarquhar says.
He says Summers, on the other hand, often consulted him on how to streamline parliamentary procedure to make Faculty meetings more efficient.
THE ROAD TO POWER
The Parliamentarian is selected at the beginning of each year by the Faculty Council, as indicated by the 1971 Rules of Faculty Procedure.
“At the first meeting each year the Faculty Council shall propose for confirmation by the Faculty, a Parliamentarian who shall not be a member of the Faculty Council. The Parliamentarian will advise the Chair concerning the interpretation of these rules and all other matters of parliamentary procedure,” the rules read.
After a member of the Faculty is selected as a possible Parliamentarian, he is elected by the Faculty at their next meeting.
Professor of the History of Science Everett I. Mendelsohn says he believes Kelly’s personality explains why he was chosen as Parliamentarian.
“He’s a very responsible figure,” he says. “He has always been an active Faculty member.”
“Getting Tom Kelly, we will certainly get one of the most colorful Parliamentarians that I can remember,” he adds.
Parliamentarians fulfilled a particular function after the upheavals at Harvard during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
As larger numbers of Faculty members attended meetings and debated how to deal with student unrest, Faculty members likely looked to the Parliamentarian to keep things in order, he says.
But now, the Parliamentarian’s job seems fairly low-key.
“You get a special chair and don’t have to work very hard,” Kelly says. “The pay’s not very good, though.”
—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.