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December 27, 2005
The sexism of the Materials
Science Deparment at Stanford
(circa the late 1980s). Some heard about,
some directly
One year, a professor was observed.
overheard to say something
like: "If we just went Recently circa 2018, I've
strictly by grades and gotten word that things have
test scores, the entire gotten much better, with
incoming class in the female professors and
department would be women. everything.
And we're *not* going to
have a class of all women." The history of that change
would be interesting to know--
I didn't see any hope for it
A woman applying for an in the mid-1990s.
opening in the faculty gave
a technical talk about her
work. It was very
impressive: There seemed to
be an incredible amount of
material. She didn't look
old enough to have done it
all. Comment from one of
the faculty: he suggested
that it was only *superficially* Commentary from
impressive. When you really one of the grad
get into it you can tell students: "She
that it's not that great. didn't wear any
make-up."
And me, I got to sit through a
number of meetings where the
lone woman's remarks seemed to
keep getting ignored.
"Hm... but what about the idea
that *she* just brought up a few
minutes ago?"
You might think: well, but that was
over a decade ago. Surely things Also:
must've gotten better since then, eh? Different departments
certainly have
different character.
I haven't checked.
One scientific
But my guess would be, "no". department of
the Ivy West
The younger professors with should not be
the inside track to tenure presumed to
were not fundamentally represent all.
different from the older ones.
The jerks were
recruiting more
of the same. (May 8, 2019)
A self-reinforcing pattern. But evidently *something*
cut that knot and got
A standing wave. the department loose.
I would guess some outside
force in the university
administration stepped in
to clean house.
In retrospect I can see there
were some signs the
reputation of the department
was slipping-- e.g. it had
lost a bit of physical territory,
losing a lightly-used room to
a neighboring department.
Could it be that the professor
that very publically had backed
"cold fusion" before, uh,
retiring did not impress?
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