Yale women demand stand on gender controversy

A controversial speech by the president of Harvard University questioning women's abilities to excel in science and engineering continues to reverberate in the halls of academia.

A group of 100 women graduate students and faculty members at Yale University delivered a petition on Tuesday to Yale President Richard Levin, demanding that he publicly condemn the remarks of his Harvard counterpart, Lawrence Summers.

Levin has been silent on the issue since Summers delivered his comments last month at a conference on diversity in science. Summers offered several theories as to why fewer women reach top-level posts in math and science than men, suggesting that family demands and "intrinsic aptitude" play a bigger role than culture and discrimination.

The petition calls for Levin to not only criticize Summers, but to improve opportunities for women on the Yale campus.

"We believe that you have missed an opportunity as an academic leader in this country to not only express your commitment to seeing more female tenured faculty here at Yale, but also to implement policies that would make Yale a leader in the promotion of women and a model for other universities nationwide," the petition states.

Yale's graduate employees and student organization organized the petition, which also calls for new women-friendly policies, including more flexible tenure policies and affordable child care and health care for students.

A Yale spokesperson said Levin is unlikely to comment directly on Summers' speech and defended Levin's position on diversity at Yale.

"President Richard Levin, throughout his tenure, has made it a top priority to increase the number of women and minorities represented on the faculty," the representative said in a statement. "In fact, over the past decade, Yale has more than doubled the number of female faculty."

Yet the Levin petition argued that Yale could do better. In 2002, women represented only 5 percent of Yale's tenured faculty in the physical sciences and only 18 percent of tenured faculty in the biological sciences, the petition states.

It's a touchy subject made more puzzling by the fact that fewer women are pursuing computing and engineering careers than ever. Data from the National Science Foundation shows that the female share of bachelor's degrees in computer science dropped from 37 percent in 1985 to 28 percent in 2001. And while women comprised 33 percent of information technology professionals in 1990, that figure was down to 26 percent in 2002, according to NSF.

[unknown unknown]

What's so bad about what the guy said?

<EOM>

[dkearns72]

Not sure the reporter got it exactly right.

In the first paragraph, the writer describes Mr. Summers as "questioning women's aptitude" for the sciences. I dont think that accurately reflects his remarks or his intent.

[tlite722]

nice hypocrisy...

"A group of 100 women graduate students and faculty members at Yale University delivered a petition on Tuesday to Yale President Richard Levin, demanding that he publicly condemn the remarks of his Harvard counterpart, Lawrence Summers.

The petition calls for Levin to not only criticize Summers, but to improve opportunities for women on the Yale campus.

"We believe that you have missed an opportunity as an academic leader in this country to not only express your commitment to seeing more female tenured faculty here at Yale, but also to implement policies that would make Yale a leader in the promotion of women and a model for other universities nationwide," the petition states.

Yale's graduate employees and student organization organized the petition, which also calls for new women-friendly policies, including more flexible tenure policies and affordable child care and health care for students."

on one hand yale's women groups want their school president to publicly condemn his harvard counterpart's comments that are, in their opinion, completely baseless and sexist but then demand special treatment to women that (presumably) men will not get.

so let me get this straight...demand others to condemn sexism and then demand a sexist policy...

[Dibbs]

you've got it

welcome to the liberal agenda. the ACLU. the NAACP. the wonderful world of liberal logic (or lack there of).

[mercuryrising]

Shouting is the best policy

When you dont have any points to make against some thought or you dont want to listen to what someone has said or you cant take a simple criticism then you shout the person down and start a campaign coz he/she said something different than what you think. It is a general way of life these days and who wants to listen at all. Why not instead of making noises about condemnation and asking for more facilities , ladies who protest make good of themselves in whatever environment they have got. After all greatness is achieved only through sacrifice.

I think a better approach would be for these women is to teach as many girls as possible on subjects like science and maths and put them in direct competition with guys . If they are good then definately our man from Harvard is wrong. But why shout if somebody does not say what you want to hear.

[lewissalem]

Freedom of speech.

It's sad that "free thought" in many of today's colleges are limited to what that universitiy's opinion is on a subject. This is a dangerous influence on our youth.

[gawilson]

Jobs to the most qualified no matter what!

I just don't think a person should have to commit to hiring on
the basis of anything other than qualifications. How can anyone
feel good about getting a job based on anything else? I know
that in reality there are people who are biased and who do hire
for the wrong reasons but I think forcing the Yale president to
hire more women, or anyone for that matter, is the wrong
approach and is demeaning to those women who have been
hired due to their qualifications.
That being said, I think who gets hired and for what reason
should be made public. The good ol' boy network is unfair to
many others as well.
GWilson

[furl12]

Down with quotas? You bet

But some people might be surprised at who's getting the quotas. Our local college was sued by a group of white women who complained that the college was giving preferance to blacks and men over whites and women. That put white women at the end of the list.

When the quotas were (briefly) removed, the percentage of female entrants rose to over two thirds. How many white men only oppose quotas because they (wrongly) think they favor other people?

I hate quotas because I don't believe favoring someone who vaguely resembles someone else who got a raw deal makes sense. Not only does it not help the particular people who lost the college position or job, it tends to result in angry bosses promoting the worst example of the group they can find. Think of Condaleeza Rice as the prime example.

Summers is bad, but Ward Churchill is ok?

U.S. Colleges and Universities are spiralling further and further down into the absurd. I wonder if there's been any protests demanding the university condemn Churchill's comments? (ie, that the 9/11 victims deserved it)

[Michael Grogan]

They missed the point entirely

Summers did not say that women in general have lower aptitudes than men for these types of endeavors. He said that fewer women with the required intinsic aptitude are available for these positions and that we need to find out why. The women protesting him, on the other hand, are demonstrating very poor comprehension abilities when they accuse Summers of sexism.