Larry Summers' Resignation and Demands for an Anti-Sexist Harvard

Harvard President Larry Summers' comments last month about the "intrinsic aptitude" of women in science and engineering were scientifically sloppy, irresponsible, and absolutely unacceptable. They confused observations of inequality with an argument for biologically based inevitability, and excused administrative inaction against social inequality. They represent an attempt to roll back the clock on women's issues to a day when the idea that women were inferior to men was used as an explanation for widespread social inequality. They give credence to these reactionary ideas and legitimacy to continued right-wing attacks on women, from attempts to limit reproductive rights to continued discrimination in hiring and wages.

As the head of a university with so much international prestige, the president of Harvard should play a special role in advancing the cause of women in higher education. Harvard should be breaking headlines for spearheading the advancement of women, not because its president provides fodder for pseudo-scientific conjecture on women's intrinsic abilities and downplays the place of universities to improve women's participation in science. As an administrator and major public figure representing one of the leading universities in the world, Summers does not have license to make detrimental remarks at will. Given his position, he is not protected from the repercussions of his comments as to how he is employed to serve this institution.

To defend Summers' continued tenure as president in the name of free speech is to actually defend a terrain of unequal discourse, stifled by fear. Those who do so protect the president's abuse of his administrative and public power to promote an agenda detrimental to women. Rather than free speech, at stake is a conflict of interest between Summers' ignorance and incompetence on women's issues, and his role as an administrator as well as public figure in higher education. We believe Summers does not have the right to publicly invoke shoddy arguments that disdain the impact of discrimination against women, and the right to run and represent this university at the same time. His remarks at the NBER conference not only demonstrate his lack of genuine commitment to women's equality but also, his failure of imagination and innovation in proposing solutions.

However, our call for resignation is based not merely on this latest incident, but the inaction of Summers on institutional sexism which it symptomizes. Summers was selected by the Harvard Corporation in a nontransparent, undemocratic process. He has presided over the layoffs of hundreds of workers, outsourcing jobs to non-union companies, drastic decreases in newly tenured women faculty, the continued marginalization of women and minorities. His words cannot be separated from his record. We charge that this campus falls short of being friendly to women, often lagging behind its counterparts and demand the below changes. From his infamous memo to the World Bank, to his alienation of leading black scholars, to this most recent storm we are embarrassed to have Larry Summers represent us as president of Harvard, and outraged that the Harvard Corporation unabashedly supports his continued tenure.

We call for the resignation of President Larry Summers, as well as the immediate implementation of the following demands:

A centrally located Womens Center with full-time staff
Free, on-site childcare for all Harvard workers; an end to employment discrimination and low pay
More tenured women and minority faculty
Increased Full-Time Faculty, resources for course offerings, and autonomy over hiring for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
That Harvard prioritize improving and increasing resources for mental health services
An end to gender discrimination, and the inclusion of protections against discrimination based on "gender identity and expression" in the non-discrimination code
That Harvard take steps to reduce the power of all-male Final Clubs on campus and create gender neutral social space
That Harvard support justice and human rights campaigns by divesting from corporations like Unocal and PetroChina
The democratization of Harvard to include student, worker, and faculty involvement in the decision-making processes of the Harvard Corporation, and the end of the President's veto over tenure decisions