Men are smarter than women: Rector Magnificus misuses Dies Natalis for pseudo-science

Lamberts: Zijn vrouwen slimmer dan mannen? Dat zeker niet.
Are women smarter than men? Absolutely not.

Mannen hebben een gemiddeld hoger IQ dan vrouwen. Het gaat om een verschil van gemiddeld 5 punten.
Men, on average, have a higher IQ than women. It concerns a difference of 5 points on average. (Dies Natalis November 8 2005 Rector Magnificus Professor Doctor Lamberts)


Q: Veel boze reacties gehad?
Lamberts: Een paar boze emails. Van vrouwen binnen de universiteit.
Q: Were there many negative responses?
Lamberts: A few angry emails. From women within the university. (Volkskrant November 15 2005)


Is that all?


We would like to express our academic, political and ethical concern of
Rector Magnificus Professor Doctor Lamberts speech at the 92nd Dies Natalis of the Erasmus University on Tuesday, 8 November 2005.

Professor doctor Lamberts congratulated the Rotterdam School of Management and Faculty of Economic Sciences for their high percentage of male students while simultaneously raising questions about the high percentage of female students at the Medical Faculty of Erasmus University.

To support this issue, Professor Doctor Lamberts cites Irwin and Lynns latest controversial scientific work (published in the British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 96 , Issue 4) which suggests that male IQs are higher than female, but neglects to cite the damning critique of this study that appeared prior to Lamberts speech in Nature (Vol. 438, November 3, 2005). Professor doctor Lamberts has stated publicly that he was not aware of the scientific criticism appearing in Nature, but as the senior academic leader of this university he is responsible for presenting scientifically balanced public statements. Ignorance in this case is not an acceptable excuse.

The official response of Rector Magnificus Professor Doctor Lamberts came only after the extremely negative publicity in the Volkskrant of Saturday 12 November 2005 (Rector Erasmus vindt jongens stuk slimmer) and the AD dagblad (Seksisme in jaarrede rector). Having cited with undue care a discredited work, he then goes on to say in the Volkskrant newpaper on November 15, he simply thought it was a nice study. This sort of lazy academic analysis does not befit a person of such high rank at our university.


We demand an appropriate political and academic apology that deserves to be written in the name of Erasmus University Rotterdam.