Student Leaders React to Summers Flap

University President Lawrence H. Summers’ remarks Friday on the lack of female scientists touched off debate among exam-burdened students and prompted reaction from campus groups as they addressed the broader issue of low female tenure rates at Harvard.

“For the most part we thought what he said was tactless,” said Dara F. Goodman ’07, co-chair of the Radcliffe Union of Students. “We need introspection at the University and he didn’t provide that.”

Goodman said the University should foster open debate on Harvard’s low female tenure rates and the impact on undergraduate women.

“I would like to see student groups get more involved in the discussion,” she said.

In response to Summers’ remarks, the Radcliffe Union of Students has written a letter to the Boston Globe and will send letters to The Crimson and the New York Times, Goodman said.

Many students took to open e-mail lists this week to debate the remarks. The comments sparked discussion on a list for the Harvard College Democrats, though the buzz tapered off a bit after news reports suggested the remarks may have been taken out of context, group President Greg M. Schmidt ’06 said.

Heightened attention to female tenure comes at a time when some student groups already have plans in place to address the problem.

The Radcliffe Union of Students, for example, is planning a meeting with other women’s groups and faculty to produce a comprehensive analysis of gender discrimination, similar to an MIT report advanced by biologist Nancy Hopkins ’64. Hopkins blasted Summers’ remarks after walking out in the middle of his speech on Friday.

Mariangela Lisanti ’05, president of Women in Science at Harvard Radcliffe (WISHR), said the group is planning a panel discussion at the start of the second semester and will invite Summers, faculty, and women science concentrators to sit on the panel.

The group hopes that discussion stemming from Summers’ remarks will “not only create a forum for debate, but will also catalyze action and change,” Lisanti wrote in an e-mail. WISHR will also host its biannual conference on the advancement of women in science April 7-10.

“The significance of this conference takes on a new meaning in light of President Summers’ comments,” Lisanti wrote. “We will most definitely extend a special invitation for him to attend.”

Karin C. Shieh ’05, president of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, said that Summers’ remarks illustrate a larger issue of equality—a concern in the business world, but also with faculty on campus.

Comments like Summers’ don’t help efforts to promote equality between men and women as groups work to bridge the gap, Shieh said.

Other students took a break from studying for final exams to weigh in on the University president’s latest foray into the national spotlight.

“I don’t think ‘innate abilities’ should be our go-to hypothesis when it’s the weakest one we have now,” said Jessica L. Jones ’06, a biological anthropology concentrator in Mather House.

—Daniel J. Hemel and Katharine A. Kaplan contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Nicholas M. Ciarelli can be reached at ciarelli@fas.harvard.edu