blackmail on the layaway plan

By ( articles ) | May 17, 2005

Reckoning the cost.

Harvard President Lawrence Summers committed his university Monday to spending $50 million over the next decade on a range of programs -- from mentoring to child care to late-night transport -- aimed at improving the climate for women scientists, many of whom were angered by his remarks that questioned female aptitude for top-level math and science.

Surely a high price to pay for a verbal gaffe?

Summers's shameless crayfishing from his stance and his groveling before his persecutors deprive him of any sympathy he might otherwise deserve. One notes, moreover, that 1) Summers keeps his job, and 2) someone else plays the $50 million that allows him to do so. Now why does that sound familiar ...?