Summers into Fall

The news broke this week that Harvard selected its first woman president in its hallowed history. To ascend to this level on one's own merits is laudable, but to ride the tide of political correctness to this post will leave a perpetual cloud of uncertainty hanging over the new president. In order to understand this predicament, we need to examine the presidency of Lawrence Summers. During a conference seeking to address the shortage of women in science and engineering, he was asked to give a thought-provoking address to spur discussion of the sources for this disparity. Unfortunately, his assertions did provoke thought--offensive thoughts, the enemy of the political correctness movement. Instead of using this opportunity, as he had rationally intended, to stimulate discourse, consider options, and produce real action, he found himself at the center of a backlash which had lost all sense of proportionality. He quickly learned that our universities, which had once been the centers of free thought and speech have become something quite different. Now, let's consider the leadership structure of Harvard. They were angered that a man could be so bold to propose that differences exist between the sexes. In order to correct this injustice, they naturally brought about his departure. However, that wasn't enough. In the next stroke, they had to both ensure that something like this would never happen again and demonstrate that women are equally as capable as men to lead such a prestigious university. Thus, Drew Gilpin Faust was hired. As with all selections potentially based on criteria other than merit, we will never know whether Dr. Foust is or was the most qualified candidate for the job. I wish her the best of luck, but I fear that under her reign, the chill of political correctness will continue to blow through the campus. Harvard likely will not help us learn why there are real differences in the numbers of men and women in science. Nor will it investigate why more women enroll in or succeed in undergraduate education. In this era, the sunshine of intellectual vigor and discourse fades, the leaves of free speech fall to be trampled under the heels of political correct minions, and summer transitions into fall at Harvard.