The $50 Million, Attacked
City Journal, a magazine of urban policy, doesn't think much of the $50 million diversity plan. How do I know? Well, for one thing they've entitled their article on it "
Harvard's Diversity Grovel."
Agree with it or not—and it has its over-the-top moments—this is a pretty lively article. Here's how it begins:
"Harvard University has just pledged $50 million for faculty 'diversity' efforts, penance for President Lawrence Summers' public mention of sex differences in cognition. The university would have been better off hiring a top-notch conjuror, since only magic could produce a trove of previously undiscovered female and minority academic stars suitable for tenuring."
In a strange way, I agree with Heather MacDonald, who wrote this story, particularly when she writes this:
"What does $50 million buy you? This astounding sum, offered by Lawrence Summers as a down payment on his absolution for mentioning the science of sex differences, comes without any explanation as to how he arrived at it or what it will purchase."
Readers of this blog will know that I support wholeheartedly the hiring of more female and minority faculty members, and their promotion to senior posts in the largely all-white, all-male Summers administration.
But from a public policy viewpoint, this $50 million plan seems vague, poorly constructed, and ultimately unnecessary. You don't need a diversity dean or sensitivity training; you just need a president who thinks about this issue seriously and sends the message that everyone else at Harvard must do the same. I, too, have wondered if Summers just pulled that $50 million out of a hat because it sounds good—not too big, not too small—just right!
MacDonald's conclusion:
"The aristocratic ease with which Harvard has just dumped $50 million down a bureaucratic sinkhole tells you all you need to know about why attending Harvard for eight months costs more than most families earn in a year. Eventually, students and parents may start asking why anyone would want to."
Hyperbolic, yes. But MacDonald's article raises a number of awkward issues that the Harvard community shouldn't ignore.
