Harvard to spend $50 million on diversity

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, under fire for comments on women in the sciences, said the school would spend $50 million over 10 years to promote diversity on its faculty and reform the way women in science and engineering are treated.
The announcement on Monday came four months after Summers triggered outrage among the faculty when he said intrinsic differences between the sexes may help explain why so few women work in the academic sciences.
After harsh criticism, Summers appointed a task force to study the representation of women and other minorities at the Ivy League school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Task force recommendations included appointing a senior vice provost for diversity and faculty development, improved recruitment and mentoring of junior faculty members.
"They also propose a series of reforms and enhancements to the way women pursuing science and engineering are treated at every point along the 'pipeline,' from undergraduates, to graduate students, to post-doctoral fellows, to the faculty ranks," according to a statement from Summers' office.
"There is no doubt that these initiatives will require significant additional expenditures," the statement said. "But we want to make clear at the outset that this is a serious effort calling for a serious commitment of resources."
There were scattered calls for Summers' resignation after reports of his comments in January. Two months ago, he lost an extraordinary but non-binding vote of confidence by Harvard's undergraduate faculty -- several of whom said they were more upset with his overall leadership style than his remarks.
But he refused to step down, instead making repeated apologies. Summers also pledged to change his tone, better listen to the Harvard community and do more to draw women to science and engineering at the prestigious Cambridge, Massachusetts university.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8513049