Harvard University President Lawrence Summers spoke for only a short time at a private economics conference held on Jan. 14 at his home university, but his comments immediately spread like wildfire through the academic world, reviving heated discussion on gender equality, specifically in the fields of mathematics and science.
Summers spoke at the National Bureau of Economic Research conference using only note cards, thus no exact transcript of what he said exists. Attendees of the conference, however, spoke with Harvard's daily paper, The Crimson, immediately afterward.
The attendees said that Summers suggested the lack of female scientists at top universities across the world were related directly to "innate differences" between males and females.
"Since there was no direct transcript, we won't know exactly what was said. But what [Summers] did say was so controversial that people remembered it and it caused a huge backlash," said Tufts Biology Professor Francie Chew.
As the pressure from professors, students, and the media mounted against Summers, the president backtracked on some of his comments.
"I had hoped to stimulate research on many interrelated factors that bear on women's careers in science," he said to the Crimson. He also promised to push for more recruitment of female professors.
Almost inaudible under the screaming and shouting that resulted from the comments were whispers from some researchers and statisticians that Summers, when taken in the right context, may actually have made a valid point.
A report on average Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores from the United States Department of Education shows that, overall, males scored more than 30 points higher than females on the mathematics portion of the exam in 2002 and 2003.
On the verbal section, males and females scored nearly identically over the same time period. While statistics like these obviously raise more questions than they answer, such a wide gap does seem to be relatively conclusive.
"It's easy to criticize Summers on initial inspection," freshman Michael Eddy said. "But upon further review we see that there is scientific evidence supporting his theory."
Even if the scientific evidence and statistics are true, Summers' words could be interpreted as discouragement toward aspiring female scientists and mathematicians.
Dean of the Tufts School of Engineering Linda Abriola - the first female to hold this position at Tufts - reported that over 51 percent of the tenured faculty in both the School of Engineering and School of Arts and Sciences have been female.
Within the School of Engineering, 20 percent of the faculty is female, twice the national average in that category.
The undergraduate engineering student body is composed of roughly 35 percent females, well over the national average.
"For him to say [what he did] when he leads an institution that is 50 percent women students, that's profoundly disturbing to me," MIT biologist Nancy Hopkins said to the Crimson after storming out of the discussion after hearing Summers' comments. "He shouldn't admit women to Harvard if he's just going to say, 'Hey we don't think you can make it to the top' when they come."
"Yes, available data suggest that there are differences that would put females and a bit of a disadvantage," said Chew. "But there are so many more factors that are important, such as opportunity, ability, and encouragement. Imagine being an adolescent girl trying to decide what you want to do in the future. Even if you were strong in math and science, you might not even think of becoming a scientist because females aren't encouraged to go that way."
The fallout from Summers' comments is still continuing, discussions are heating up, but Summers has already agreed to push for more recruitment of women at Harvard, with the hope that other colleges and universities will follow suit.
"Summer's comments have certainly caused quite a lot of discussion," said Abriola. "He has put gender equity on the front burner again. I think that's a good thing.
