Reason Morning Links: Title IX for Science, Sword Fight, Stuart Smalley Wins.

- The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson scolds members of the Congressional Black Caucus who seem to have been starstruck after a meeting with Fidel Castro last week.

- Hecklers take the glamour out of the New York Auto Show.

- Obama wants to apply Title IX to "science and engineering."

- Feds expecting a surge in first-time delinquent taxpayers.

- Obama to allow unlimited travel and money transfers from Cuban-Americans to relatives on the island.

- Minnesota court declares Al Franken the winner of the Minnesota race for the U.S. Senate.

- Comcast mistakenly airs ad for Girls Gone Wild during Philadelphia-area broadcast of the Vatican's Good Friday service.

- Two killed in Indianapolis . . . sword fight?

Comments

[John]

Applying Title IX to science and engineering. Yeah, that will help science programs. The next person who gets on here and screams about how Democrats are committed to science needs to shut the fuck up. They are no better than the worst evangelical. Demanding the science be made more girl friendly by getting rid of all that icky experimentation and math and making sure that every science program has an equal number of men and women in it regardless of how many qualified hard working men get turned down in favor of less qualified women is no better than demanding that schools teach that dinosaurs walked the earth with man. In fact it may be worse. Evangelicals only want to destroy biology. Liberals want to put a torch to all of science.

[FrBunny]

Two killed in Indianapolis . . . sword fight?

This would never happen to a Kentuckian; we have a natural +3 to Fortitude saves. Something about the bourbon.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Yeah, the Title IX to science thing is just awful*. And I'd RTFA, but I'm not signing up for that ish.

*More women in science is a good thing but why/how must/could it possibly be implemented via legislation. Sadly, John's cynical take seems to be the only sane one.

[Marc]

This would never happen to a Kentuckian; we have a natural +3 to Fortitude saves. Something about the bourbon.

Does Armor Class count for nothing any more?

[domoarrigato]

Swordfight:

I really wonder how there happened to be two swords, just laying around...

[FrBunny]

Does Armor Class count for nothing any more?

Avoiding damage is a chump's strategery.

[Fluffy]

I never thought that the Gathering would take place in Indianapolis.

After the Quickening I hope we aren't ruled from there. Kind of hard to take pride in your immortal overlord's world capital if it's Indianpolis.

[SugarFree]

Avoiding damage is a chump's strategery.

Hear, hear!

[brotherben]

I really really wanted to read the title IX article, but I won't be signing up for it. Maybe I'll comment anyway.

[brotherben]

Jeep sprang for a bigass imaging waterfall, but the spokesmodels had to wear last years outfit? Good ole 'Merican

[John]

"Rondeau and Adolf Stegbauer got into an argument at a home in the 5200 block of Raceway Road that escalated when one of the men grabbed a sword, prompting the other man to also brandish a sword."

Don't these people own any guns? What are they Vikings?

[brotherben]

oops. good ole 'merican bidness savvy.

[dbcooper]

From the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/13/AR2009041302119.html

What's good for women's basketball will be good for nuclear physics.

To most Americans, that statement will sound odd. To President Obama, it apparently does not. In an October letter to women's advocacy groups, he declared that Title IX, the law that requires universities to give equal funding to men's and women's athletics, had made "an enormous impact on women's opportunities and participation in sports." If pursued with "necessary attention and enforcement," the same law could make "similar, striking advances" for women in science and engineering.

That campaign pledge is hardening into policy, which ought to give people pause. In February, the Congressional Diversity and Innovation Caucus met with academic deans and women's groups to plan for the new Title IX deployment. Nearly everyone present agreed that closing the gender gap in the laboratory is an urgent "national imperative." What they failed to consider, however, is how enforced parity might affect American science.

Not much meat in the article, but if it does go through then your country is absolutely fucked. Must be very depressing to have two such moronic parties dominating your politics.

[James B.]

Companies regularly get sued for racial discrimination, not because the actively discriminate but because their policies result in disparate impact.

So now if you are a US Citizen and have relatives in Cuba, you can travel there or send money. On the surface it doesn't seem discriminatory, but the actual effect is that the vast majority of people in this country who are now allowed to travel to Cuba are Hispanic and virtually everyone else is out of luck.

What if the gov't said only people of Swedish ancestry were allowed to visit Stockholm?

[John]

Seriously, why didn't one of them have a halbred or a mace? Why just swords?

[dbcooper]

I really really wanted to read the title IX article, but I won't be signing up for it. Maybe I'll comment anyway.

bugmenot.com

[ed]

I really really wanted to read the title IX article

Sheesh, the WaPo still requires registration? Who wants to bet that, given their position as official newspaper of the federal government, they'll be the last paper standing? Too important (and left-leaning) to fail.

Anyway, if you enjoy women's basketball and softball, you'll love Title IX for science.
They'll have to lower the lab tables, of course.

[FrBunny]

Rondeau and Adolf Stegbauer

Clearly they are ancillary romance novella characters brought to life by wizards. They'd no more likely reach for a gun than for the remote control.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Seriously, why didn't one of them have a halbred or a mace? Why just swords?

I think Fluffy has the best idea of why.

[brotherben]

If title IX is so fikin peachy dandy, why don't we implement it in congress. And the white house too?

[Taktix?]

Comcast mistakenly airs ad for Girls Gone Wild during Philadelphia-area broadcast of the Vatican's Good Friday service.

Awesome.

Obama wants to apply Title IX to "science and engineering."

Awful. I'm not signing up either, but I can only assume this is for higher education institutions, and I hope the bankers and auto executives see this.

Highway Funds = Federal Student Aid = Tarp Money = Stimulus Money

All a federal racket, all with strings attached...

[SugarFree]

Obama wants to apply Title IX to "science and engineering."

I hope women scientists can stand the sight of empty lab bleachers.

[Abdul]

There's been a development in the Indianapolis swordfight case. Police arrested a Scotsman who grew inexplicably stronger just after the two deaths.

[Xeones]

Yo, fuck Barack Obama.

[dbcooper]

Have to agree with John on his 1st comment too. This sort of thing makes me so damned angry.

[Abdul]

Let's not be too hasty in juding the Title IX for science idea. Putting more women into labs is sure to decrease the incidence of sword fights.

[FrBunny]

Hooray for Franken! Decriminalization of cocaine is just around the corner now!

[gets comfortable. waits]

[J sub D]

To most Americans, that statement will sound odd. To President Obama, it apparently does not. In an October letter to women's advocacy groups, he declared that Title IX, the law that requires universities to give equal funding to men's and women's athletics, had made "an enormous impact on women's opportunities and participation in sports." If pursued with "necessary attention and enforcement," the same law could make "similar, striking advances" for women in science and engineering.

I definitely think that the "women's" physics curriculum shoud receive the sam funding as the "men's" physics curriculum at MIT.

Oh wait ...

[JP]

I think Obama should put Larry Summers in charge of this Title IX crusade.

[J sub D]

Norm Coleman is acting like Al Gore in 2000, a spoiled and petulant whinger. Dagnabit! You lost a close one there Norm.

Now is the time for all good men to STFU for their country.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I hope women scientists can stand the sight of empty lab bleachers.

I've got a hunch that this comment could be a threadwinner.

[brotherben]

I feel bad for all the Philadelphia area catholics that gave up 'batin for lent.

[Boston]

Full Article here

http://www.aei.org/publications/pubID.29701,filter.all/pub_detail.asp

[kinnath]

I find it depressing that each week brings a new reason to doubt that POTUS has even a single ounce of common sense between his ears.

[J sub D]

Franziska Stegbauer, 77, also died as a result of stab wounds after the fight early Thursday morning, but police were not initially sure which of the men had stabbed her.

This sounds like a job for Stephen Haynes, Super Coroner.

[Boston]

Damn. Thats the title 9 article with no registration requirements.

[Tonio]

Obama to allow unlimited travel and money transfers from Cuban-Americans to relatives on the island.

Disappointed, but not surprised, that this didn't get more notice here. "Reason" has been urging for opening of our Cuba policy like forever. I realize that this is not the complete opening that (most) everyone here would like, but reality is what it is.

Yay!

[Taktix?]

I find it depressing that each week day hour brings a new reason to doubt that POTUS has even a single ounce of common sense between his ears.

Agreed, with stipulations...

[Chuck]

Not much meat in the article, but if it does go through then your country is absolutely fucked. Must be very depressing to have two such moronic parties dominating your politics.

I wore black on election day last year. And drank a lot.

[J sub D]

Congressional Diversity and Innovation Caucus

Just ... Wow!

[John]

The people behind Title IX in science really are insane. They don't believe in objective truth. Sane people look at the fact that little Debbie doesn't do well and Calculus and thinks well maybe she is not very interested, maybe she doesn't have a mind that works well with equations, maybe she didn't work hard. These lunatics see that and think that she didn't do well because the class is culturally biased against her. If we just get rid of the cutural bias, she will do better. Getting rid of the cultural bias involves getting rid of objective standards. It doesn't matter that Debbie didn't solve the derrivitive correctly and come up with the correct area under the curve. What matters is that she used the proper thought proccess. It is basically a fancy way of saying that you should get credit for showing your work even if your work is wrong. All that matter is that girls and boys do equally well and are equally represented in each class. I will leave it to you to imagine what that mindset would do to our science and engineering programs.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

J sub D,

I definitely think that the "women's" physics curriculum shoud receive the sam funding as the "men's" physics curriculum at MIT.

Oh wait ...

Maybe they are talking about scholarships. I certainly think the women's scholarship funds should receive the same amount as the men's scholarship funds.

Oh, wait...

PS: I am a mechanical engineering student who graduated valedictorian from high school and is currently the top of the junior class. My (female) friend failed out of the program about halfway through her second semester. Guess which one of us got a larger scholarship?

[Pro Libertate]

I think the Title IX business in connection with science education stems from Obama's desire to see more lab whores in America.

Sword fight in Indy, eh? That sort of thing couldn't happen in Scotland, where swords have been banned.

[SugarFree]

So all the graduate schools have NO GIRLS ALLOWED! signs on them and stern bouncers to make sure no cootie-carriers get in? Uh-huh.

What's happening is probably fairly similar to the declared "crisis" in library schools. Very few black people go to library school, become librarians, or work as paraprofessional librarians. This, of course, is howled about in library circles and many hand-wring articles have been written. "What are we doing to keep them away?" "Is there some hidden racism we need to ferret out?" Of course, the idea never comes up that maybe black people looking to go to graduate school have better prospects than to go into librarianship, a fairly low-paying professional field that faces pressure from the bottom (even lower-paid paraprofessionals can do the job) and pressure from the top (people with PhDs and JDs are competing for jobs that only require a Masters.) Librarianship is a soft-option, and 95% of people in it failed at something else first. Maybe most black people can't afford to try out a few Masters degrees before settling for librarianship. Maybe they are just too smart to become a librarian.

Maybe women don't want to be scientists in the same number as men. There are way less than 50% women plumbers. Are we experiencing a crisis in plumbing?

Hell, men are a tiny fraction of librarians... do you think anyone ever calls that a crisis?

[Taktix?]

Tonio,

I am glad of the outcome, but I still cannot trust anything this fucker does. Now, I'm no expert on the Cuban Embargo, but I do have one question:

Can the POTUS just declare this?

I assume the embargo originally took effect through an act of Congress, so how can the Executive Branch just wake up one day and decide to change this? I can't imagine this is legal.

Hurray for Cuba, but what of America?

[Vermont Gun Owner]

All that matter is that girls and boys do equally well and are equally represented in each class.

But nursing programs don't count!

[kinnath]

Title IX could make "similar striking advances" for women in science and engineering. Indeed it could--but at what cost to science? The idea of imposing Title IX on the sciences began gaining momentum around 2002. Then, women were already earning nearly 60 percent of all bachelor's degrees and at least half of the PhDs in the humanities, social sciences, life sciences and education. Meanwhile, men retained majorities in fields such as physics, computer science and engineering.

College is not the problem. The problem is that nerds begin to present themselves in junior high. This disease afflicts a major portion of the young male population, while females remain almost entirely immune.

If a cure can be found for teenage nerdness, the male graduation rates in the fields of physics, computer science and engineering can be driven to almost as low as female graduation rates in the same areas.

The world can live with far fewer scientists and engineers so long as politicians can continue to legislate technilogical development.

This has been a public service announcement, we now return you to your regularly scheduled commentary.

[Warren]

Title IX for science and engineering is way stupid. I'd like to RTFA, anyone got email/password for WaPo?

Back when I was an electrical engineering student, the ratio was about 20/1 male/female in my core courses. The university was doing everything it could to attract female engineers, high school recruitment, special scholarships, special study groups, etc. You couldn't beg or buy them into engineering. Actually EEs had it toughest, the MEs fared better and Comp Sci was well integrated. I've heard things are better these days.

But whatever you think the state of gender and science, Title IX has no place. Title IX directs that equal allocation be made to female programs as is made to male programs. But women compete equally in Science and Engineering departments. There is no Women's Physics Team. Bringing Title IX into Sci/En would create one. It would split Science and Engineering along gender lines. WTF? How can anyone possibly think that is a good idea.

[James Ard]

Why not title IX science? After all, I see my girls playing with bugs and tonka trucks just as much as I see them playing pick-up sports games.

[brotherben]

warren, the link at 9:28 has the article, no registration required.

[Chuck]

FWIW, I don't see much difference in ability in my classes, and nationally over 40% of bachelor's degrees in mathematics go to females (I think it's close to 45% now but I don't have the data handy). At the undergraduate level, there's not much difference in achievement in mathematics across genders. So, it's not differences in mathematical ability that is causing the disparities in science and engineering. Personally, I think it's just the fact that science and engineering tend to involve a lot of building things, are women are less fascinated with building things than men are, on average.

[dbcooper]

A high proportion of women I've known in the sciences enter graduate school with no intention of working as a scientist/engineer. They see the hours as being too long, the work as not interesting enough for a career, and better pay and prospects in consulting etc. Many want to have a family soon after grad school too. All this Title IX shit will achieve is attracting more who seeks MRS degrees, and resume fillers for a better shot at McKinsey/Bain etc.

[tigre]

"Demanding the science be made more girl friendly by getting rid of all that icky experimentation and math..."

Let's do a little thought experiment. If women were just too stupid for science, wouldn't you think that the number of female scientists and grad students in all sciences (including biology, where women are often a majority these days) would have remained relatively stable over time? On the other hand, if it were more often an effect of parents and friends not encouraging girls to go into scientific fields, or difficulties created by the tradeoff between family and an academic career, you might expect the proportion of women in scientific fields to increase over time as societal attitudes change and the average age of marriage and reproduction increases. But actually thinking about the causes underlying a particular phenomenon might get in the way of people's preconceptions, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?

As usual with affirmative action programs, this just plays into the hands of people who are already biased toward thinking that the minority group just can't hack it without having the rules changed in their favor. Women are already increasing in proportion in most scientific fields, though there's no reason to think that an equal number of women and men would necessarily want to go into particular sciences. Just because males and females may have different preferences on average doesn't mean one gender is better or worse at general skills like math (which has been pretty conclusively shown). But leave it to the government to step in just when they aren't needed and give a boost to the idiotic arguments of bigots.

[From Drudge]

WAKE UP CALL: TEXAS GOV. BACK RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SOVEREIGNTY
Tue Apr 14 2009 08:44:54 ET

AUSTIN - Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states' rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state," Gov. Perry said. "That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states' rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union."

Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

[VIDEO]

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government's constitutionally designated powers and impede the states' right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

Developing...

[Warren]

FWIW
I find a definite gender difference in engineers. For one thing, the ratio of good engineers to bad engineers is far higher for females. I figure more men who aren't really suited to engineering go into it, while some women who might be pass it by. And there also seems to be a different brain process at work. By and large I understand what my male colleagues are thinking (whether it's brilliant or stupid) when I speak to them. But when working with female engineers, they often come at the problem from a perspective I can't understand. This can be quite valuable.

[dbcooper]

Just because males and females may have different preferences on average doesn't mean one gender is better or worse at general skills like math (which has been pretty conclusively shown).

Why do people quote "averages" when they are talking about the abilities needed to make faculty in engineering, physics etc. The "average" abilities are no where near enough. You typically have to be in a very high percentile to be good enough to do the work.

[Pro Libertate]

Woman obviously can hack science and math--it's not a question of mental aptitude. Even so, a Title IX approach is stupid on so many levels.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Warren:
Actually EEs had it toughest, the MEs fared better and Comp Sci was well integrated.

Really? At my school the EEs have a higher proportion of girls than the MEs. The order (from most girls to least) is roughly Comp Sci/Math tied, then environmental engineering, then civil, then electrical, then mechanical.

Of course, even in the ME department the ratio has 'evened out' to about 14:1.

[Warren]

VGO
I went to RIT back in the early 90's. From where I sat, it looked like EE classes had zero or one female, while ME classes had three or four.

[tigre]

"Why do people quote "averages" when they are talking about the abilities needed to make faculty in engineering, physics etc. The "average" abilities are no where near enough. You typically have to be in a very high percentile to be good enough to do the work."

Because I was talking about gender differences generally. That in no way implies that higher sciences and engineering require "average" intelligence.

[Tonio]

Can the POTUS just declare this?

IANAL, and this is way outside my area of interest in the law, so I don't know if it's legal. Good question.

[dbcooper]

Because I was talking about gender differences generally. That in no way implies that higher sciences and engineering require "average" intelligence.

And you have absolutely missed my point. General gender differences expressed by averages do not give relevant information when discussing abilities required for high achievements like making faculty in physics, engineering etc. If "average" scores are the same it doesn't matter - you need to look at the numbers capable of high levels of achievement. i.e. you need to examine the upper ends of the distributions.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Why do people quote "averages" when they are talking about the abilities needed to make faculty in engineering, physics etc. The "average" abilities are no where near enough. You typically have to be in a very high percentile to be good enough to do the work.

Bingo. Such veracities are difficult to construe of in an overly collectivist mindset.

@ kinnath @ 9:39: props!

@ Warren: interesting

@ Pro Lib: yup! I'm thinking of Emmy Noether, Marie Curie and some others right now.

[Art-P.O.G.]

@tigre,

my comment was in no way an indictment of your ideas. Your 2nd paragraph kicks all sorts of ass.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Warren,

I wonder if it is a case of the grass being greener on the other side. Regardless, its clear that the civil/environmental departments blow the EE/ME departments out of the water. It is something on the order of 1:3 compared to 1:14.

[domoarrigato]

Math and Science intensive fields are probably some of the lowest paid jobs per mental aptitude that there are. Women are smarter than men precisely because they avoid them and go into consulting/brand management/research sales - hell even law...

The government is oppressing women by encouraging them to take low paying jobs, that they probably aren't interested in, to make some stupid political point about who can design flanges better.

[Bronwyn]

There seemed to be gender parity in the graduate student population of the IU Bloomington department of Biology. Same thing at the U of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Hell, come to think of it, same thing in the biology department at Trinity University where I did my undergrad work.

Applying Title IX to science is frankly insulting.

It may be unlibertarian of me, but where I get pissy about gender inequality is when I look at salary differences. At UofL, female faculty earn about 69% of what male faculty earn. That's just a rough estimate though.

At IU, well, I can't tell you because (a) IU won't give non-IU folks access and (b) the Herald-Times restricts access to paying subscribers.

How is it legal to put public information behind barriers like that?!?!?

Well now I'm pissed.

[Tonio]

At IU, well, I can't tell you because... IU won't give non-IU folks access... How is it legal to put public information behind barriers like that?!?!?

Bronwyn, it's a matter of state law, and I have no idea what Iowa law says about that. Even if the law says it has to be publicly available, it often takes a lawsuit to get the gatekeepers to play by the rules. Contact your local ACLU...

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not expert on this, but I think Congress delegated the power to the president (and the relevant administrative agencies) to determine which countries are "hostile" under the Trading with the Enemy Act. So the president can probably identify and set the level of sanctions under that act by having whichever agency manages such things (State?) issue regulations, without any additional action by Congress.

I'm sure someone here has better information on this or has more time than I do to research it.

[Unka Sam]

How is the Black Caucus still in existence? How blatantly racist can you get? Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Congressman, has mostly black constituents- 60%, I believe. He tried to join because he has a valid desire for reaching out to the people who elected him. He was denied entry because he's white. I know the argument has always been, "Well, Congress is white, so Blacks needed their own welfare to look out for." Now we have a black President, there are black congressmen, senators, and representatives in our "White Congress," so really, why does the Black Caucus still exist?

[Pro Libertate]

The CBC exists to constantly embarrass millions of educated blacks.

[R C Dean]

More women in science is a good thing

Why?

[P Brooks]

HACK ALERT!

Phil Lebeau is on CNBC right now talking about the wonderfulness of the VOLT. I hope they pay him well for this shit.

[P Brooks]

the Congressional Diversity and Innovation Caucus

We are so utterly fucking DOOOOOMED.

[PC]

How can you apply Title IX to a gender neutral program? It's not like there are men's and women's science programs. These people are retarded.

[VM]

hay hay hay now. calm down. The title nine was supposed to be "tittie nine", and it was where the girls gone wild will do like math and science and stuff.

"hey big boy, lemme show you the bernouli effect. you lean back, purse your lips and blow. see - the grape hovers"

[PC]

Is Obama going to mandate that they decrease parity between the NBA and the WNBA, by forcing attendance numbers to be the same? That could be part of his forced service program, forcing people to sit and watch a WNBA game.

[SugarFree]

PC,

I think "cruel and unusual" kicks in.

[T]

More women in science is a good thing

Why?

Engineers and scientists need dates.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

More women in science is a good thing

Why?

Engineers and scientists need dates.

What do you have against productivity?

[Art-P.O.G.]

The CBC exists to constantly embarrass millions of educated blacks.

Yup. As if Congress weren't embarrassing enough as a mostly undifferentiated mass.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Why?

Hypothetically increases the field of brilliant thinkers. I'm pretty sure more and more have already women have already been getting involved in the hard sciences and gov't interference would almost certainly be counterproductive.

Yes, R C, I'm operating under the assumption that women+sciences is still an evolving romance.

[T]

What do you have against productivity?

It interferes with my web surfing.

[R C Dean]

Hypothetically increases the field of brilliant thinkers.

Title IX type preference programs work one of two ways:

Keeping out qualified men (which will decrease the field of brilliant thinkers).

Bringing in less-qualified women (which will do nothing to increase the field of brilliant thinkers).

On net, we are looking at a decrease, I believe.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Title IX.

Have you any idea just how in demand the chicks are in physics?!?

They get tenure track interviews when comparably skilled boy-grad-students get post-doc interviews.

< anecdote > I know a couple that graduated at about the same time. She got one short postdoc then straight into tenure track. He's on his third postdoc. I think he's a better physicist and a better worker < / anecdote >

Now, I admit, they seem to get hired only a little sooner, but they also seem to get hired at slightly better institutions, and at slightly better salaries.

Each of these effects is small, but they add up.

Personal observation: in my sub field the average level of "smart and gets things done" is about the same between the boys and girls. But the guys lie on a boring normal distribution, and the gals are spread across a funky bi-modal shape. They tend to be way smart or deadwood.

[economist]

Now if we could add a little anti-Asian xenophobia, we could really wreak havoc on science in this country!

[Art-P.O.G.]

R C,

I wasn't defending the Title IX approach.

[juris imprudent]

JsubD sez I definitely think that the "women's" physics curriculum shoud receive the sam funding as the "men's" physics curriculum at MIT.

Laugh now monkey boy, but when physics has been reduced to the intellectual level of Womyn's Studies you'll be rubbing two sticks together for warmth.

Bwonwyn sez female faculty earn about 69% of what male faculty earn

That's an interesting number for a rough estimate.

[No Name Guy]

The best effect of imposing Title IX on math and science will be the coralary imposition on womens Studies, teaching, english lit, art history and nursing. Not to mention the fact that women are overrepresented in college in general (now far more than 50.5% of college populations).

After all, what's good for the gander, is good for the goose, right?

[R C Dean]

Bwonwyn sez female faculty earn about 69% of what male faculty earn

Cries out for data, if you ask me.

[Libertymike]

No Name Guy-

And good for the gender, too.

[bigbigslacker]

Now if we could add a little anti-Asian xenophobia, we could really wreak havoc on science in this country!

hmmmm...if the chairs are empty and they need to be filled with women, why not hot young Asian women brought in for just that purpose? There's got to be a business oportunity in there somewhere.

[economist]

R C Dean,
Bwonwyn's data doesn't take into account the fact that female faculty are most highly concentrated in what might be called the "soft arts", which generally don't pay as well.

[Ebeneezer Scrooge]

John,

I will leave it to you to imagine what that mindset would do to our science and engineering programs.

I leave it to you all to imagine what affirmative action doing right now, today, in our aerospace and auto industries, where it is currently, actively being applied by our hallowed US corporations (and remember that corporations are definitely *not* just extensions of the government). Because the government wants our corporations to do it and what do corporations say? "Oh, okay, I can do that, you know, whatever."

There are few one-man empires left to speak of, none who fought this, and of course as good libertarians we all know there's really absolutely nothing wrong with corporations (who should have been the very first to fight this bullshit, but instead they just along).

So as dbcooper put it, figure us fucked.

[VM]

"Laugh now monkey boy, but when physics has been reduced to the intellectual level of Womyn's Studies you'll be rubbing two sticks together for warmth."

the ID people will get to teach their stuff in science class?

[lunchstealer]

Title IX protection for women in sciences makes exactly as much sense as Title IX protection for men in general college admission, or in department-by-department gradation.

Although I will say that scientists' self-image as beings of pure logic tends to leave them blind to their own biases. I've seen more than a few blatantly sexist moves by university profs who think they're icons of liberal equality. It really doesn't occur to them that they might be acting like irrational sexist douchefucks. So a kick in the balls from some Title IX regulators might actually do some of them some good. Probably less so the younger folk, but some of the codgers may still need a good headsmacking.

[the innominate one]

"...you'll be rubbing two sticks together..."

I won't, never in a million years, NTTAWWT.