Ivy-Covered Intolerance

I decry as much right-wing nonsense as I can at this site, as anyone who has taken the time to stop by knows full well, but from time to time I have to call it the way I see it and take a shot at people who in aggregate lean politically the same way I do but can act brainless at times also. I almost expect the right wing knuckle draggers to be intolerant as a reflex, but it really gets me when I see people acting like that who are supposed to be smart enough to know better (and in the process, the latter group provides grist for the former).

This brings us to departing Harvard University president Larry Summers.

Summers, former Clinton Administration treasury secretary, resigned last week as president of Harvard University after serving a term of only five years. As nearly as I have been able to figure out from my admittedly limited research into this (having a hard time separating the “wheat” from the “chaff”), Summers’ biggest crimes were to question the activities of acclaimed black studies professor Cornel West, including West’s participation in development of a CD with a rap group, which eventually led to West’s departure for Princeton, and Summers' now-infamous comment that women were “underrepresented in professional life” possibly because of “upbringing, genetics, or child rearing,” as well as his thoughts that women might (with an emphasis on “might”) not be better at math or science than men.

I think this paragraph from a related Washington Post story is pivotal.

In his remarks...Summers pointed to research showing that girls are less likely to score top marks than boys in standardized math and science tests, even though the median scores of both sexes are comparable. He said yesterday that he did not offer any conclusion for why this should be so but merely suggested a number of possible hypotheses.

Gee, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at a college; suggest hypotheses? I mean, that’s exactly the type of critical thought that these people who espouse “creationism” or “intelligent design” (which are both the same thing) are trying to abolish, isn’t it?

Before I say another word, though, I should point out that I think Summers is utterly wrong to suggest that men could be (or are) better at math or science than women. I’ve worked with highly skilled computer development professionals for a long time, and if I were to do an analysis, I would probably find slightly more men in the field than women, but not by much. And believe me – if you’re writing object-oriented computer code, you had BETTER know math.

I’ve attached links to two Inquirer opinion columns on Summers that were published today. The first is from Bonnie Squires, a communications consultant in Wynnewood who, as far as I’m concerned, needs to get a grip in a major way. The second is from a Harvard student named Daniel Ross-Rieder who, though overly sarcastic also, makes some points in Summers’ defense.

As much as it is good sport for lefties to watch the Repugs flailing away at Dubya over the NSA spying and Dubai Port World fiascoes, it is also good sport for the hardcore right, unfortunately, to watch the mayhem at Harvard over all of this (with these two guys who apparently are Repug sympathizers continuing to stir the pot).

I would only ask that all concerned cut some slack to the new president of Harvard in light of all of this, whoever he or she or it may be, and try listening and thinking a little bit more instead of trying to out-screech each other.