3 university chiefs chide Summers on remarks

In a highly unusual move, the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and Stanford University have written an essay critical of remarks last month by Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers that biological differences may help explain why fewer women than men succeed at the top ranks of science and engineering.

''Speculation that 'innate differences' may be a significant cause of underrepresentation by women in science and engineering may rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative stereotypes and biases," they wrote.

The signers are Susan Hockfield of MIT, a neuroscientist; Shirley M. Tilghman of Princeton, a molecular geneticist; and John L. Hennessy of Stanford, a computer scientist.

''The question we must ask as a society is not 'Can women excel in math, science, and engineering?' -- Marie Curie exploded that myth a century ago -- but 'How can we encourage more women with exceptional abilities to pursue careers in these fields?' " they wrote. Curie won two Nobel Prizes for her work on radioactivity.

Although their criticism of Summers is muted, and he is mentioned by name only in the first paragraph of a 700-word essay, the statement was read with great interest in academic circles, because it is almost unheard of for university presidents to publicly scold a peer.

''It's very rare, and it's new, but in some ways Larry [Summers] himself has established the idea of being quite open and controversial," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, who stressed that he thought the three presidents were debating ideas rather than making a personal attack. ''Maybe there is something emerging here where more presidents will speak out, but they won't be unanimous. They will have differences."

Summers has apologized several times for remarks he made at a conference Jan. 14. ''I was wrong to have spoken in a way that has resulted in an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women," he wrote in a Jan. 19 letter to the Harvard community. He also set up two task forces that are charged with quickly recommending concrete ways to recruit more female professors and provide them better support at the university.

In response to the commentary by Hockfield, Tilghman, and Hennessy, Summers said in a statement provided by his office: ''I strongly share their commitment, and as I've said in recent weeks the primary issue is in meeting these challenges going forward."

Officials at Stanford, Princeton, and MIT all said yesterday that their presidents were traveling and unavailable for comment. An MIT spokeswoman said the three academic leaders first discussed the idea of writing a joint statement when they saw each other at a meeting. Princeton spokesman Eric Quiñones said they discussed it both in person and via e-mail.

''As the issue continues to generate discussion on campuses and in the media, they felt, as scientists and university presidents, that it would be helpful to take a more forward-looking approach and focus on why it is important to encourage women to pursue careers in math, science, and engineering," he said.

Tilghman is known for her interest in the advancement of women in academia. She has appointed other women to several top positions at Princeton and established a study of the status of women in science and engineering. The essay was the first high-profile move by Hockfield since she arrived as president of MIT in December.

The statement was originally drafted as an opinion piece to be submitted to newspapers, according to MIT, but it was quoted extensively on the Princeton University website Wednesday, so the universities released the full text yesterday. The essay appears opposite the editorial page of today's Globe.

The presidents wrote that increasing competition in technological innovation from abroad and the lagging performance of American students make encouraging more women to pursue careers in the sciences a crucial challenge.

''Until women can feel as much at home in math, science, and engineering as men, our nation will be considerably less than the sum of its parts," they wrote.

Implicit in their statement is a rebuttal to Summers's controversial remarks that researchers need to study whether there are biological explanations for why fewer women achieve top scores on math and science tests.

''Research in behavioral genetics is showing that things people previously attributed to socialization weren't" caused by socialization, he said an interview the day after the conference. A transcript of the remarks has not been released.

Hockfield, Hennessy, and Tilghman wrote that ''important cultural and societal factors" must be addressed, and said ''low expectations of women can be as destructive as overt discrimination."

They also said universities need to develop a culture more attuned to the need for women with children to balance work and family.

In his 2003 book, ''Liberal Education and the Public Interest," former Dartmouth president James O. Freedman encouraged college presidents to use their bully pulpit more often, despite the risk of backlash that has made most university leaders reluctant to do so.

''It is a reminder that college presidents have the right to free speech," he said yesterday, adding that he couldn't think of a previous example of college presidents criticizing another president. ''I applaud them for entering the fray."

Jenna Russell of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com.