Posner on Summers
Judge Richard Posner has posted an analysis of Harvard president Lawrence Summers' recent observations about the ratio of female scientists to males. Posner's take is that Summers' should have kept his mouth shut to begin with, but having opened it, he should not have apologized for what he said.
It's not that Posner thinks Summers said anything wrong; he simply observes that "...since he [Summers] is not an expert in this area, there would have been no great loss to human knowledge had he kept silent and let the experts engage with the issue." He goes on to point out the existence of a double standard when it comes to freedom of speech for people like corporate CEOs, judges and, of course, university presidents. One might intentionally violate that double standard to achieve a notoriety that might prove helpful in some specific instances, but, by and large, discretion is the better part of valor for such folks.
Posner's analysis is interesting, but I still like George Wills' summary of the situation, of which I was reminded by one of the comments on the post:
...He thought he was speaking in a place that encourages uncircumscribed intellectual explorations. He was not. He was on a university campus."
Indeed, I think the overtly negative reactions to Summers' remarks says a lot more about the academic community than about his competence as a university president. If those in academia can't parse words or think any more objectively than that, then why do we need 'em?
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