We Need Women, Too

To the editors:

Cornel West’s decision is indeed sad for Harvard, but over the past few years I have watched most of my favorite women professors leave with a lot less fanfare and a far smaller outcry. Where was the series of front-page stories for Juliet Schor, an internationally-known economist who was beloved by her students, when she left for Boston College last year? Seyla Benhabib, one of the top feminist theorists in the country, defected to Yale, while other important and influential women were denied tenure or elected to depart upon seeing how low their chances were of obtaining it (18 of 19 University professors are men, along with more than three-quarters of the faculty in general). Where was the outcry over Ann Pellegrini and Rebecca Faery, to name just a couple of the long line of Harvard’s departed scholars? Harvard needs to support women and people of color as professors, or it will continue to lose their much-needed perspectives and talent to other schools.

Shauna L. Shames ’01

April 12, 2002