Lawrence Summers

Yesterday, The New Republic introduced its readers to The Open University, its "first-of-its-kind blog, featuring America's top academics on today's top stories." As promised, there are lots of big-name professor types--the University of Chicago's Cass Sunstein, Harvard's Steven Pinker--and they've already taken on such weighty topics as "ideological amplification" and the demise of the HBO series "Deadwood."

Also among the contributors is deposed Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who ran afoul of female academics by speculating that women might be underrepresented in the science departments because of their inherent limitations. And it looks like the laboratory isn't the only place where the fairer sex isn't pulling its weight: A quick count of the 20 contributors turns up 17 men and 3 women: Harvard Professor Elisa New, Princeton Professor Christine Stansell, and Manhattan Institute Fellow Abigail Thernstrom.

Asked how TNR's newest blog wound up looking so old-school, the publication's online managing editor Adam Kushner said the magazine had tried to court more lady contributors.

"We did invite quite a number of women professors and some of them turned us down," he said. "The original conceit of the plan was roughly 50-50. I think we cast a lot of invitations all over the place.

"So we're not happy with the balance right now, and we've already been looking to improve, and we hope to improve," he said.

-Lizzy Ratner

Many years ago, in the course of an otherwise high-minded conversation, a very wise, very distinguis  read more »

Many years ago, in the course of an otherwise high-minded conversation, a very wise, very distinguis  read more »

I bashed The New Republic's Martin Peretz for hinting ominously that Harvard Pres. Larry Summers's departure would result in the loss of $100 million gifts to the school. Oops. Turns out he was right.

A reader, John, has nailed me on a recent soccer post, where I echoed Kissinger's statement that U.S. soccer needs "minorities."

Not sure if you're agreeing fully with Kissinger here -- I hope not, because his comment is effectively racist. K's saying "minorities," i.e., the dark people, are better at sports, regardless of if a hardscrabble life makes you hungry for the game. And this, if I can be mean, is what Kissinger likely believes those minorities can be proud of in life.

The irony is that soccer's great teams belie this view. Aside from Brazil, who are the powerhouse teams today and historically? Germany, for sure -- not many minorities there. Argentina, which has largely been a team of European ancestry. And Italy, a homogenous white team if there ever was one. The Netherlands and England are also perennially near the top -- and very, well, white.

Maybe the problem in the U.S. is entitlement, I don't know -- but the racist "minority" argument has the virtue of being an easy explanation, and the vice of being factually wrong, and bigoted.

Wow. Smart readers.

My response: O.K. Yes; I was agreeing with Kissinger. Obviously, I'm wrong, in some large measure. Culture is a significant factor in soccer performance. Saying "minorities" is pretty offensive. And I call myself an internationalist...

But to rally to my side for a second: There is a widespread equation in mainstream American culture of athleticism and blackness. C.f., Jayson "White Chocolate" Williams on the Heat, the movie, White Men Can't Jump, and Larry Summers's fatal, and scientistic, musings about innate abilities of a year ago ("the data will, I am confident, reveal that... white men are very substantially underrepresented in the National Basketball Association."). Isn't it true that, right now in America, basketball and football are dominated by black athletes, in part because they are faster and jump higher? And that if we want to perform in soccer, we have to get some of those guys on the team? What say you, John?

I went to a friend's son's bar mitzvah on Saturday and in some part because of my blog, and its discussion of Jewish politics, felt a little alienated. I forgot to get a yarmulke, then I ran to get one. I wondered who if anyone there had seen my ideas. Later, at the reception, I got into a discussion about these issues with an old friend, who was joined by a friend of his.

My friend said he was a secular Jew and asked me how I define myself. An assimilating Jew, I said. Shortly after that, his friend said, I don't know what an assimilating Jew is, and walked away.  read more »

Ron Rosenbaum mentions the Columbia Journalism dean favorably—and I'm hoping that the Harvard Board of Overseers thinks of Lemann for the Harvard presidency. For a few reasons (not just that he's an old friend whom I met when we were undergraduates in Cambridge). He's brilliant and distinguished, to begin with, and intellectually sophisticated, a scholar of history who has studied pedagogical policy and done an impressive job as a dean. More than that, he has something that the late and unlamented Larry Summers never had, never could have: a humane set of values. Summers epitomized the worst of the meritocracy, the insulated belief of the intelligent that they deserve their place on top because they scored high on the SATs and make more money than other people. It's a complacent materialism that is as nauseating in its way as Babbitt's or General Motors' in days of yore, but with the sheen of blue-state high-culture on it (and, in Summers's case, Jewish tribal self-involvement). Lemann's life and work show that you can be as smart as Summers, actually smarter, and care about ordinary people.

Lemann comes from a privileged background but has a deep sense of noblesse oblige, meaning he believes in something the meritocracy doesn't cultivate: community. When I first met him, he was a kid reporter investigating racist Louisiana laws. These days he's committing Columbia Journalism school to excellence and diversity. I saw this when I taught a class there not long ago. The students had varied backgrounds. Some had that thing called "life experience." A young Muslim woman wore a head covering. Lemann has minorities high on his staff. There's a feeling of tolerance and extension of spirit, great liberal values. The thing I'd fault Lemann for—he was too tactful as a journalist covering the powerful— recommends him for the Harvard presidency. And (again unlike Summers), he knows how to manage people.

Larry Summers and the Shame of Harvard    read more »

Larry Summers and the Shame of Harvard  read more »

“This is a day of mixed emotion for me,” Lawrence Summers said on the afternoon of Feb.  read more »

“This is a day of mixed emotion for me,” Lawrence Summers said on the afternoon of Feb. 21.  read more »

Some of what Larry Summers said about scientific and mathematical aptitudes was sensible enough.  read more »

As of March 15, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences officially lacked confidence in president Law  read more »

Last night, Politicker editor Marcus Baram sent over this preview of today's Observer, which includes the names Rove, Shrum, Clinton, and Summers:

Here's the lineup:

- Matt Scheurman examines the fight over the West Side Yards in light of Monday's deadline for competing bids from the Jets, Cablevision and TransGas. "It's a dog and pony show without the dog or the pony," quipped one reporter.

- Our cover story this week delves into the Summers saga. Now that Larry Summers has been spanked by the Harvard faculty, is he toast? Sources tell Tom Scocca that Summers has been angling to hire a prominent female scholar, Harvard-trained psychologist Carol Gilligan, now at New York University, who professionally theorizes about innate gender differences, to damp down the drama.

- Now that Dan Rather, along with that Texas twang, has given up his seat at the anchor desk, will CBS kiss and make up with the White House? "Karl Rove started talking to me again," John Roberts tells our ace TV columnist Joe Hagan. "With the departure of Dan Rather, this is a good opportunity for CBS to reach out," said Ari Fleischer, the former White House press spokesman. "This is almost a curtains-up for CBS to improve relationships."

- I take a look at why it's taking so long for the MTA to follow through on their security plan after it was revealed that they've only spent a portion of the $591 million budgeted two years ago. That got me thinking about security spending by other big-city transit agencies around the country (most of them, such as DC Metro which exhausted their $49 million in federal dollars, have spent every penny), the huge disparity between Homeland Security funding for airline security ($15 billion) and transit security ($115 million), and how much can really be done to secure a system as extensive and complex as the MTA.

- Adam Begley profiles English novelist Ian McEwan, whose new book "September" is causing a stir on both sides of the Atlantic. "It's a coronation," say his friend, Timothy Garton Ash. "It's now an accepted cultural fact that Ian is the leading English novelist of his generation."

- Our editorials: Can General Motors Survive?, New Yorker Wins Intel Prize, Bobby Short

- Jake Brooks looks at "Our Brand is Crisis," a new documentary recounting James Carville and Bob Shrum's work on behalf of Bolivian presidential candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, aka Gon. Call it The War Room's South American Sequel.

- Joe Conason's latest column: "Shameless Right-Wingers Exploiting Terri Schiavo"  read more »

- Sheelah Kolhatkar profiles Philip Gourevitch, the new editor of the Paris Review, along with some juicy literary gossip. When writer Rick Moody found out about the firing of previous editor Brigid Hughes, he fired off an angry "resignation" letter to the magazine.

- And Rebecca Dana has an amusing take on Hillary Clinton's visit to the First Ladies exhibit at the New York Historical Society on Monday.

Harvard Rules: The Struggle for the Soul of the World's Most Powerful University, by Richard Bradley  read more »

University presidents should be intellectual leaders, not just fund-raisers, cheerleaders and greete  read more »

The Anti-Defamation League, which keeps track of these matters, recently issued a press release noti  read more »

With so much attention focused on conflict abroad and security at home, it's not surprising that mos  read more »

As the conflict in the Middle East continues to boil, there's disturbing evidence of rising anti-Sem  read more »

It's lucky for Cornel West that the Ivy League apparently has no shortage of universities willing to  read more »