Reacting to Summers' Debate

The following is a small sample of the letters received by The Crimson on the current controversy surrounding University President Lawrence H. Summers:

To the editors:

I thank you for continuing to fuel the flames surrounding University President Lawrence H. Summers’ innocuous remarks in which he simply noted that some social scientists have opined on the reasons for a lack of “women in science.” Intellectual curiosity should be advanced at Harvard, but alas, it is not.

I am a conservative Republican who disagrees politically with Summers on many issues. Yet I come to his defense here as he is assaulted by advocates of “political correctness”—a political philosophy embraced by his very own liberal democrat establishment—perhaps even by you.

He first got spanked for challenging the scholarship of Cornel R. West ’74 and should have learned that one doesn’t tilt against left-leaning windmills. But, Summers is either a slow learner or a conservative plant. Either way, he is exposing the left for its self-righteous attempt to homogenize scientific and political thought.

ROYAL S. DELLINGER

Rockville, Md.

February 15, 2005

To the editors:

It is interesting to me that Harvard chooses someone with a Victorian sensibility to steer the college into the 21st century. Some traditions should not be continued: among them the tired, soggy, shopworn debate on the biological inferiority of women. Perhaps Summers should review his history; at the very least he should revise his communication strategy. In order to give him adequate time to better organize his thoughts, Summers should be relived of his duties immediately.

KATE STICKLEY

New York, N.Y.

February 15, 2005

To the editors:

I am concerned that the current firestorm over University President Lawrence H. Summers’ intemperate remarks might be exploited by certain faculty to resist some much-needed changes in undergraduate life that Summers has championed. These changes include ending the first academic term prior to the Christmas break, deferring selection of a concentration area until the end of the sophomore year, and greatly expanding the junior year abroad program.

I have been involved with interviewing and recruiting students for Harvard for many years. The most consistent concern one hears from talented students accepted to Harvard, but choosing to attend other colleges, is that Harvard is not invested in the quality of life of its undergraduates. This sentiment has been echoed by countless recent graduates. The faculty have had many opportunities to address this issue over the years and have failed so spectacularly that one could question the sincerity of their commitment to this enterprise.

The remedy to the “undergraduate problem” may require the type of cultural shift that Summers has initiated. Perhaps some forceful leadership with support from alumni, and even confrontation, is in order if we wish to bring balance to the faculty’s parochial perspective on undergraduate life. While Summers’ recent remarks and disrespectful style are unfortunate, the real tragedy would be if the faculty’s current discontent with the man were used as a pretext to discount his important ideas on undergraduate reform.

RICHARD MARKHAM ’69

Baltimore, Md.

February 16, 2005

The writer is a professor of molecular biology and immunology at Johns Hopkins

University.

To the editors:

I am stunned by the notion that Harvard would force anyone out of his or her position here—whether student, staff, faculty, or administration—because of the views that person expressed at an academic conference.

BRUCE HAY

Cambridge, Mass.

February 16, 2005

The writer is a professor of law at Harvard Law School.

To the editors:

In recent weeks many academics have rallied to the defense of Ward Churchill, an unkempt University of Colorado professor who, in a published essay, referred to victims of the September 11 attacks as “little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers.” It is tellingly hypocritical that some of these same academics now seek to strong-arm Harvard’s president for raising a plausible and empirically testable hypothesis at an academic conference.

JEFFREY P. CLEMENS ’05

February 16, 2005