Posted by David Bernstein:
Summers controversy and conservatives in academia:
A [1]commentator at Janegalt.net:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but about 6-8 weeks ago there was a flurry
of activity in the blogosphere re: the dearth of
conservatives/Republicans on university faculties. If I recall, the
general, not to mention immediate, consensus among liberal/Democrat
professors was that Republicans either didn't have the intellectual
oomph to be professors, or just preferred to do other things.
Natural selection, in other words, certainly not any sort of bias.
We now have Harvard jumping through hoops to explain the dearth of
female professors in math and science departments. They're not
quite sure why this condition endures, except for the fact that it
absolutely, positively, ain't natural selection. Strangely enough,
this was another immediate, reflexive consensus, excepting Mr.
Summers' brief but embarrassing romp off of the intellectual
plantation.
I would add that if Summers' quite measured comments have gotten him
into such hot water, imagine how regular faculty, untenured faculty,
graduate students, and undergraduates whose views don't reflect the
politically correct mainstream are treated, and how much their careers
can be placed in potential jeopardy. And then consider whether a young
conservative or libertarian scholar would be wise in pursuing an
academic career.
As for the argument that many scholarly issues in academia are
non-political, ahd thus not subject to ideological prejudice, consider
another Janegalt commentator's missive:
I'm a newly hired scientist at Harvard, and I have been amazed by
the fact that almost all of my colleagues agree that this
hypothesis (that biological differences contribute to the
persistent discrepancy between the numbers of men and women in the
natural sciences and mathematics) should not even be considered.
If science can't be objective and free from political correctness,
what can?
References
1. http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005186.html
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