Text 8024, 85 rader
Skriven 2005-01-25 13:33:26 av Alan Hess
Ärende: Furor at Harvard
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http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.chapman25jan25,1,5882328.story
?coll=bal-pe-opinion
Harvard no haven for academic freedom


By Steve Chapman

January 25, 2005

CHICAGO - Freedom is expanding around the world, but there are still places
where you can get in big trouble for speaking your mind - such as North Korea,
Saudi Arabia and Harvard. Like Kim Jong Il and the House of Saud, America's
most prestigious university enforces some sacred taboos, as President Lawrence
Summers can now attest.

Mr. Summers, a distinguished economist, had the absurd notion that despite
being a university administrator, he is allowed to behave like a scholar by
challenging prevailing wisdom. At a recent academic conference in Cambridge, he
talked about factors that might explain the relative dearth of women in math
and science positions at elite universities. One possible explanation he
mentioned was the existence of biological differences between the sexes.

The reaction from some women was swift and angry. MIT biology professor Nancy
Hopkins walked out. "When he started talking about innate differences in
aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe, because this kind of
bias makes me physically ill," she said later. Mary Waters, chair of Harvard's
sociology department, said it would hurt recruiting that "the president of
Harvard didn't think that women scientists were as good as men."

Actually, that's about as far from what Mr. Summers said as Cambridge is from
Dogpatch. Several female scholars, recognizing as much, came to his defense.
Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin said she "left with a sense of
elation" that "the president of my university retains the inquisitiveness of an
academic." Mr. Summers nonetheless was forced to apologize for uttering
forbidden thoughts.

But why should he have to beg forgiveness or take corrective action? Free
inquiry demands a willingness to question even the most widely cherished ideas.
The quest for truth should allow academics to pursue facts wherever they may
lead.

But his critics act as though personal indignation is all the argument they
need. This attitude has no place on a university campus. As Harvard psychology
professor Steven Pinker said of Mr. Summers' remarks, "The truth cannot be
offensive. Perhaps the hypothesis is wrong, but how would we ever find out
whether it is wrong if it is 'offensive' even to consider it?"

It's hard to see why it should be offensive to wonder if women and men may be
genetically prone to different strengths and weaknesses. No one would be
howling if Mr. Summers had suggested that biology might help explain why men
commit far more homicides than women, why they die more often in accidents, or
why they are more disposed to autism.

Mr. Summers has ample evidence to support his suggestion about women and math.
On average, men and women are equal in mathematics ability. But that doesn't
mean they are identical.

David Geary, chairman of the psychological sciences department at the
University of Missouri, says that among adolescents scoring at the very top
levels on standardized math tests, males outnumber females by a staggering 13
to 1.

Other studies show that females who are gifted in math are far less likely than
men to get degrees in math and engineering and more likely to study, say,
medicine or law. Why? Because they tend to be "more verbally talented" than men
and more inclined to pursue "opportunities that draw on verbal-linguistic
skills," according to a Vanderbilt University study.

Critics may blame this pattern on discrimination. That doesn't square with the
study's findings that job satisfaction is virtually the same among the women as
the men.

All this evidence is subject to rebuttal, but scorn and abuse don't refute it.
In a scholarly environment, people ought to be encouraged to examine even the
most inconvenient notions to find out if they have any validity. That's how
knowledge advances - not by suppressing debate and vilifying provocative
thinkers.

Steve Chapman is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Publishing
newspaper. His column appears Tuesdays and Fridays in The Sun.

Copyright + 2005, The Baltimore Sun

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