The firestorm over the remarks by Harvard President (and former Clinton Treasury Secretary) Lawrence Summers continues to demonstrate the intellectual McCarthyism of the feminist left and major media, such as the New York Times. Certain hypotheses must not be entertained. Nevermind all the verbiage about freedom of intellectual curiosity, today's campus has become an apparatus for indoctrinating dogma, not for the investigation of questions of truth.

Summers was guilty, of course, of merely considering alternative explanations for the paucity of women in the ranks of high achieving scientists, beyond the doctrine that invisible, impossible to measure discrimination is the sole cause.

It is highly instructive to compare coverage of another university president, Lee Bollinger of Columbia, where actual blatant discrimination, indeed harrassment of students who support Israel has been widely alleged, with coverage of Lawrence Summers, who merely opened the door for inquiry of a hypothesis. Needless to say, one is of almost no interest to the NYT and other major media organs, while the other is worthy of extensive coverage.

Our friend Rick Richman has further thoughts at his blog, Jewish Current Interests.

Thomas Lifson   1 20 05