“I think [Summers] is appropriately questioning everything,” said Zofnass. “One of his strengths is that he is very comfortable pointing out all the possibilities and challenging them.”

Zofnass called Summers “intelligently provocative,” and said that universities have an obligation to expose problems for discussion and thought.

“If not Harvard, who?” Zofnass said.

The alumni response to the Summers controversy, however, has not been uniformly in his favor.

Shelley G. Burtt ’80 said she took issue with Summers’ remarks on women, but that she thought they would not adversely affect donations from alumni.

“Alumni give for many reasons, most unrelated to their view of the particular person serving as president of the University,” Burtt wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer Nicholas M. Ciarelli can be reached at ciarelli@fas.harvard.edu.