According to the Chronicle of Higher Education daily update today, the National Academy of Sciences was able to find 12 whole women this year to add to its membership rolls. Not surprisingly, the Academy welcomed five times as many men - 60 - into its ranks. According to the Chronicle,
The academy's leadership says it has been working to identify and nominate qualified women for election. The academy's existing membership elects new members in a closed process that has been called byzantine and that, some critics say, resembles an old boys' club. Historically, the overwhelming majority of members have been white men.
With the newly elected members, 199, or about 10 percent, of the academy's 2,013 active members are women, up from about 7 percent in 2001. The academy has not set any quota or special preferences for admitting women, saying that might conflict with electing only the most-qualified scientists.
Well, god knows we would not want to have too many women, I mean, any unqualified scientists, in the Academy.
Do you think that the special preference the academy has shown for admitting predominantly white men may have resulted in not always selecting the most qualified scientists? Or is there something about the holy trinity of penis, testicles, and white skin that automatically confers scientific prowess upon an individual?
The next time I am in DC, I am going to have to stop by the Academy and barf on its doorstep. I'd really like to barf on the main entrance doorstep. Do they actually let women use the main entrance?
1:32:51 PM 
|
