(Untitled)

[artificialchaos]

The President of Harvard seems to have a little problem on his hands.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/19/education/19harvard.html

Comments

[jonathonjones]

I have to wonder about how the president said this hypothesis. Scientifically, of course, the tone and context do not matter, but it might make a difference in determining whether he is a sexist. Indeed, that seems to be what pretty much everyone in the article is outraged about - not so much the suggestion that women have natural differences in ability, but rather that the president is a sexist (and therefore, presumably, would be less likely to support women scholars

[artificialchaos]

I think it is indicitive of a larger trend in academia to renounce without evidence hypothesis that "offend" us, as if the truth is somehow contingent upon whether it offends us or not.

Ultimately, we don't know what he said because the meeting has no transcript, because the whole idea was that it be a forum for people to throw out ideas without anyone being singled out. We see how well that went.

Ironic Twist

[quietsiege]

I've always liked the idea that perhaps men have a genetic disadvantage when it comes to math, and that we would never notice it because men have so many social advantages when it comes to the subject.