“A band,” the crowd replied, laughing.

“Oh, I thought it was a psychedelic substance,” Summers said.

And while Summers may not be deeply rooted in hip-hop culture, he expressed his strong commitment to the visual and performing arts at Harvard.

“In many ways, the arts are the highest achievements of man,” Summers said, “and universities have always been focused on humanities.”

Summers added that he was concerned that there is a disparity between critiquing and creating works of art.

“You don’t have to be particularly accomplished to study macroeconomic theory or European history,” he said, “but you do if you want to study creative writing or musical performance. That is problematic.”

Summers also added that he hoped to see the University develop more respect for the arts and more “explicit academic evaluation” in the future.

—Staff writer Lauren A. E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.