This “airing of views” contributed to some of the most dramatic and contentious Faculty meetings in recent memory.

But since March, faculty discussions of their discontent with Summers have moved out of the Faculty meetings and into more private venues.

The Faculty meetings, says Acting Chair of the Folklore and Mythology Department Jan Ziolkowski, “have been very boxed, structured events.”

“There’s a very staged atmosphere,” he says.

Yet the long-term consequences of this turbulent semester remain to be seen. Summers has already announced he will no longer participate in the curricular review—possibly a reaction to accusations from professors that the president was exerting undue influence in Faculty affairs.

A group of department chairs, which first gathered in February in response to the initial outcry against Summers, has announced that it will continue to meet next year to address the Summers-FAS relationship.

In May, the Faculty Council announced that the full Faculty would convene for five extra sessions in the next academic year, to make room for debate on the curricular review.

But for now, the curtain has closed on the public drama, and calm has returned to the Faculty Room.

—Staff writer Anton S. Troianovski can be reached at atroian@fas.harvard.edu.