Yes, this is my favorite letter. I think the women in science comments were somewhat overblown in the press, but do we really want a Harvard president goes out of his way to point out how organic differences make us all quite different from each other? Apparently James Stern does:
“Summers, in contrast, was an “ideas” president” … “Yes, science may lead us to discoveries that, at least in some areas, complicate our ideas of equality.”
Certainly Summers would have liked scientific evidence to prove that the Af-Am faculty are stupid, or that economists are indeed smarter than everyone else, and apparently Stern likes this too. That strikes me as pretty scary.
Anonymous 2/24/2006 1:38 pm
Oh, this is priceless… pitiful to the point of almost being funny.
Rational and free inquiry cannot, and should not be trumped by political correctness.
Anonymous 2/25/2006 3:21 am
Summers is leaving because he was a terrible manager, dishonest, and unethical. Funny that his supporters focus on issues (like p.c. stuff) on which he is not being criticized by his critics. I guess that they have no defenses for his … management skills … honesty … ethics. Supporters who do have defenses should make them, publicly.
3 Responses
2/24/2006 1:04 pm
Yes, this is my favorite letter. I think the women in science comments were somewhat overblown in the press, but do we really want a Harvard president goes out of his way to point out how organic differences make us all quite different from each other? Apparently James Stern does:
“Summers, in contrast, was an “ideas” president” … “Yes, science may lead us to discoveries that, at least in some areas, complicate our ideas of equality.”
Certainly Summers would have liked scientific evidence to prove that the Af-Am faculty are stupid, or that economists are indeed smarter than everyone else, and apparently Stern likes this too. That strikes me as pretty scary.
2/24/2006 1:38 pm
Oh, this is priceless… pitiful to the point of almost being funny.
Rational and free inquiry cannot, and should not be trumped by political correctness.
2/25/2006 3:21 am
Summers is leaving because he was a terrible manager, dishonest, and unethical. Funny that his supporters focus on issues (like p.c. stuff) on which he is not being criticized by his critics. I guess that they have no defenses for his … management skills … honesty … ethics. Supporters who do have defenses should make them, publicly.