In the Globe, Linda Wertheimer wishes Drew Faust happy holidays with the gift every Globe reporter gives a new Harvard president early in his/her tenure: a puff piece.

Nearly six months into her presidency, Faust is earning high marks on campus for her nonconfrontational, welcoming style and spirit of openness. She has brought stability to a campus rocked by the stormy five-year tenure of Lawrence Summers, according to more than a dozen faculty and students. Faust has been visible, chatting with professors at a dinner for new faculty, attending student theatrical performances, and having dinner or tea with students in informal gatherings at residence halls.

Wertheimer begins her article by telling the story of Faust kicking off her presidency by hosting an ice cream social, an event she considers of great import.

"It defined her presidency," said James Kloppenberg, chairman of the history department. "I wandered by where she was and thought this was unprecedented for a Harvard president to make him- or herself available to anybody who wanted to chat."

Oh, for God's sake. It defined her presidency? Larry Summers used to eat pizza with students, but he still wasn't a very good president. Drew Faust's presidency is, technically, about three months old. Isn't it a little early for such diagnoses? And isn't it, in fact, a little condescending to Faust to say that her hosting of an ice cream social defined her presidency?

And while Faust has not faced a major controversy, she showed signs of strong leadership this month when she announced a sweeping financial aid initiative, faculty and students said.

Let's be honest here: The aid plan is a great idea, but was probably promoted by people in the admissions/financial aid offices. Expanding financial aid is wonderful, but isn't this lowering the bar for leadership?

Wertheimer's argument is essentially that Drew Faust has helped heal a campus divided by Larry Summers, and I'm sure that's true. But again, that's lowering the bar—it doesn't take much to not piss people off as much as Larry Summers did.

Tellingly, Wertheimer doesn't mention one Faust misstep: In an earlier Globe article, Wertheimer reported that Faust was slowing down the plans for the Allston expansion, based on quotes from Faust. Later in the day, Faust denied any such thing, and her office claimed that she had been misquoted.

A relatively minor affair, but it looked unprofessional. Why doesn't Wertheimer mention it? Because it involved her reporting. But the omission of that anecdote makes the reader wonder whether this big wet kiss of an article is intended to make up for that mini-hullabaloo. After all, Wertheimer has to cover Faust for a long time....

Is Faust doing a good job? Well, how's the Allston planning going? How are the deans she's appointed? How are her relationships with alumni? How is fundraising going? What's her relationship with the Corporation like?

Relationships with the faculty are important, obviously. Critical, even. But in the long run, these questions may be better measures of how Drew Faust's presidency is coming along.