Sunday, March 09, 2008

Univ. of Michigan Women's Studies Dept. Accused of Discrimination, Against A Female Professor

The fact that women are capable of contributing to the nation's scientific and engineering enterprise but are impeded in doing so because of gender and racial/ethnic bias and outmoded ‘rules' governing academic success is deeply troubling and embarrassing.

~
Report of the Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering

Many excellent scientists and engineers are opting out of the academic career path because of the perceived hostile climate for women - in hiring, tenure, promotion, and compensation - particularly those who wish to combine family or community service with research and teaching.

Donna Shalala, President of the University of Miami

So how does it work when women control an academic department? The
Women's Studies Department at the University of Michigan lists 72 full-time faculty members, and 69 of those professors, or 96% of the department, are female.

Assistant professor
Andrea Smith was recently denied tenure by the female faculty of the Women's Studies Department, and some University of Michigan faculty and students allege that Professor Smith is a victim of discrimination.

Read the full story in the
Michigan Daily here.

7 Comments:

At 3/09/2008 7:43 PM, Blogger juandos said...

I have a question, why is such a totally useless venue of study given a department in the first place?

 
At 3/09/2008 8:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Useless is too kind ... wasteful and destructive are more accurate ... it is likely these studies promote victim mentalities that undermine the mental health of those exposed

 
At 3/09/2008 8:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Same song third verse - 72 full-time professors! in Women's Studies???

What a waste.

And how many professors are in the Men's Studies department??? (sarcasm noted?.

 
At 3/09/2008 10:12 PM, Blogger randian said...


The letter cited Smith's feminist activism and her impressive academic record - including a nomination for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize - as accomplishments that merit her receiving tenure.

"Activism" is now a tenure-track activity? I thought professors were supposed to be there to teach, not agitate.

 
At 3/09/2008 10:12 PM, Blogger randian said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 3/09/2008 10:13 PM, Blogger randian said...

Why does this blog prohibit the use of the "blockquote" tag?

 
At 3/09/2008 10:41 PM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

Randian:

I haven't put any restrictions myself, I think it might be a limitation of all Blogger blogs.

In the instructions for comments, it says that "You can use some HTML tags, such as the ones for bold, italic, etc." Perhaps the blockquote tag is not supported?

 

Post a Comment

<< Home