After I stated banal facts about human biology, I found myself caught in a DEI web, without the support to do the job I loved. The only way out was to leave it.
When Claudine Gay told new Harvard students that it is "an inclusive community *but* one deeply committed to free expression," made me wonder if she was conscious of her bias that inclusiveness is inimical to free speech. If only she'd said "and" instead of "but" it might have been possible to take her seriously.
Also, I think is was extraordinarily generous—and unwarranted—to excuse Laura. Being immersed in a DEI culture is not a good enough reason to not have the sense to look behind the curtain.
I heard Carole Hooven interviewed by Andrew Sullivan, but I think this article makes her case and THE CASE even better than that interview did. What I valued in this article by her was the detailing of the process by which a vast spider-web like DEI apparatus uses student gossip and social media enhancements and hype to achieve a Salem Witch Hunt style village mob hysteria. A lot of people in this network of links get mobilized out of a cowardly comformity they do not even seem to see as the destructive force it is. It all must be ripped up by the roots and ousted before institutions like Harvard can ever regain the trust they are losing rapidly or have lost totally now.
Harvard has shown the world all the elegance and brutality of Hitler Youth and their esteemed university faculties of the 1930's. History may not repeat, but fascism of the past sure rhymes with the US intertwined academics, Fortune 100, their media parrots and the Beltway spewing propaganda fashioned by Barrack Obama's 24/7 echo chambers, killing the truth.
thanks. Carol and the Free Press for showing the way.
It is inconceivable to me that stating the truth about biological sex is considered harmful. We truly live in an Orwellian world now and it is very very sad and very scary when people who know nothing about biology and are actually anti-science are now having so much influence, I find it infuriating.
I am fascinated that eole stay so committed to being a Democrat when she was made miserable and felt compelled to leave her career due to an agenda and policies of the Democratic party. That seems irrational to me. The moderate Republicans are where Democrats were in the 1970's. Today's Democratic party is authoritarian and Marxist
Routinely the introduce and vote for laws that violate our constitution, our freedom and the founding principles of our nation in lust for power. Was Kennedy or Williamson given a chance to be nominated by the voters in a fair process? What about Bernie in 2020. The party has taken power from the people and is run by WEF and UN ideologies. As for dei, Jordan Peterson said it best DEI must die. I write a Bible based protest statement each year on the dossier submitted for my annual academic review
Fortunately I don't work at Harvard and only a few junior faculty actually believe in the DEI religion iny college. So those DEI loyalty statements we require from applicants as demanded from HR get ignored by selection committees and we still hire based on merit.
I can’t support the Democrats any more. The DEI and the trans ideology is as authoritarian as it gets, and yet they still support it! The only ones that have any sense on this are people on the right!
Over a century ago German sociologist Georg Simmel wrote that women were entering the public square that had been defined by men for men and that women would transform the public square to suit a more feminine sensibility.
Was Simmel right, or was he right, dear ladies in the DEI Industrial Complex?
What does it all mean?
I say that men have a Culture of Insult, as in "suck it in, cupcake."
I say that women have a Culture of Complaint, as in "I can't believe she said that."
Carole Hooven is obviously a woman of integrity. Harvard has none. She is right: everyone deserves respect. I disagree about pronoun use, but that's a small potato. Do unto others... Like Hooven, I am 57 and an educator. I was raised on Do unto others... That's all I needed. It works! As for these DEI "professionals" - every last one in every last organization should be fired NOW and kicked to the curb. No one can make you feel bad without your permission. These Trans or Homosexuals, others, minorities, whatever the group can just shut the _______ up and deal with life. If people treat you unfairly there are, and have been for decades, channels open to legitimate grievance. The wrong pronoun means your life is good and you have little about which to complain. I applaud Dr. Hooven for striving to make Harvard what many of us thought and would like to believe it should be. Me, I say burn down all of 'em and start anew.
Like many other commenters, I am entirely sympathetic to Dr. Hooven's situation and appalled at how she was treated by the grad students and the administration, and not surprised her "colleagues" were not willing to support her publicly. We're about the same age and I also teach in a biology field where I discuss differences in things like survival and habitat use, between females and males of various species. What I was wondering, though, was how this might have played out if she didn't respond to the grad student's tweet at all and just ignored it, or talked to her in person. I understand the desire to defend yourself, but it seemed like getting more interest in the situation became the real problem. How many people would have noticed Laura's tweet outside of some the other students? Would the situation have been avoided?
It's a good question. The problem is in part the mindlessness of the twitter-verse or the social media world. But in part it is also that the DEI apparatus uses that mindless world to enhance its power and authority. If you came to Harvard administrators and said they should act because of gossip you overheard at a party about someone, they'd probably scold you about crediting rumors. But somehow they have allowed the megaphoned gossip of social media to be credited. So, yes, Carole should not perhaps have re-tweeted (or whatever the terminology is) as she did, but the shame should be on those in authority who uses that tech-world drivel as evidence against someone.
“In 1998, before I started studies for my PhD at Harvard, I spent nearly a year doing field research in Uganda on the behavior of chimpanzees. In retrospect, this work turned out to be useful in understanding dominance hierarchies at the school.”
Thank you for sharing your story Carole.
My criticism of the “mob” at Harvard that forced Carole to resign is this: they add no value to society, build nothing, and only serve to destroy. That is your legacy.
I can't wait to read your book Carole. I have been in academia for the past 6-7 years and am phasing myself out this coming May. I've been through ordeals similar in tone and theme to yours although without a tenth of your popularity or notoriety. It was brutal and I don't think I'll ever quite recover from it to be honest. May more brave folks in academia speak up and start turning the tides. I'm so very sorry for what you endured and I wish you a peaceful and prosperous year ahead!
When Claudine Gay told new Harvard students that it is "an inclusive community *but* one deeply committed to free expression," made me wonder if she was conscious of her bias that inclusiveness is inimical to free speech. If only she'd said "and" instead of "but" it might have been possible to take her seriously.
Also, I think is was extraordinarily generous—and unwarranted—to excuse Laura. Being immersed in a DEI culture is not a good enough reason to not have the sense to look behind the curtain.
"scientific opinions" fka "facts" //eye roll emoji//
"Even if they knew the right thing to do, especially for those at the top, there was just too much to lose."
I would say the reverse. There is simply too much to lose by not speaking out.
I heard Carole Hooven interviewed by Andrew Sullivan, but I think this article makes her case and THE CASE even better than that interview did. What I valued in this article by her was the detailing of the process by which a vast spider-web like DEI apparatus uses student gossip and social media enhancements and hype to achieve a Salem Witch Hunt style village mob hysteria. A lot of people in this network of links get mobilized out of a cowardly comformity they do not even seem to see as the destructive force it is. It all must be ripped up by the roots and ousted before institutions like Harvard can ever regain the trust they are losing rapidly or have lost totally now.
Harvard has shown the world all the elegance and brutality of Hitler Youth and their esteemed university faculties of the 1930's. History may not repeat, but fascism of the past sure rhymes with the US intertwined academics, Fortune 100, their media parrots and the Beltway spewing propaganda fashioned by Barrack Obama's 24/7 echo chambers, killing the truth.
thanks. Carol and the Free Press for showing the way.
It is inconceivable to me that stating the truth about biological sex is considered harmful. We truly live in an Orwellian world now and it is very very sad and very scary when people who know nothing about biology and are actually anti-science are now having so much influence, I find it infuriating.
I am fascinated that eole stay so committed to being a Democrat when she was made miserable and felt compelled to leave her career due to an agenda and policies of the Democratic party. That seems irrational to me. The moderate Republicans are where Democrats were in the 1970's. Today's Democratic party is authoritarian and Marxist
Routinely the introduce and vote for laws that violate our constitution, our freedom and the founding principles of our nation in lust for power. Was Kennedy or Williamson given a chance to be nominated by the voters in a fair process? What about Bernie in 2020. The party has taken power from the people and is run by WEF and UN ideologies. As for dei, Jordan Peterson said it best DEI must die. I write a Bible based protest statement each year on the dossier submitted for my annual academic review
Fortunately I don't work at Harvard and only a few junior faculty actually believe in the DEI religion iny college. So those DEI loyalty statements we require from applicants as demanded from HR get ignored by selection committees and we still hire based on merit.
I can’t support the Democrats any more. The DEI and the trans ideology is as authoritarian as it gets, and yet they still support it! The only ones that have any sense on this are people on the right!
DEI = Cancer
A brave, smart, and I have to also say - very attractive woman.
Over a century ago German sociologist Georg Simmel wrote that women were entering the public square that had been defined by men for men and that women would transform the public square to suit a more feminine sensibility.
Was Simmel right, or was he right, dear ladies in the DEI Industrial Complex?
What does it all mean?
I say that men have a Culture of Insult, as in "suck it in, cupcake."
I say that women have a Culture of Complaint, as in "I can't believe she said that."
So sad, so not surprising.
Harvard loses a star because someone needs a safe space???
If you need a safe place you belong at home, in bed, under the covers.
These DEI offices create a culture of fear, not inclusion. Welcome to academia, comrade.
Carole Hooven is obviously a woman of integrity. Harvard has none. She is right: everyone deserves respect. I disagree about pronoun use, but that's a small potato. Do unto others... Like Hooven, I am 57 and an educator. I was raised on Do unto others... That's all I needed. It works! As for these DEI "professionals" - every last one in every last organization should be fired NOW and kicked to the curb. No one can make you feel bad without your permission. These Trans or Homosexuals, others, minorities, whatever the group can just shut the _______ up and deal with life. If people treat you unfairly there are, and have been for decades, channels open to legitimate grievance. The wrong pronoun means your life is good and you have little about which to complain. I applaud Dr. Hooven for striving to make Harvard what many of us thought and would like to believe it should be. Me, I say burn down all of 'em and start anew.
Like many other commenters, I am entirely sympathetic to Dr. Hooven's situation and appalled at how she was treated by the grad students and the administration, and not surprised her "colleagues" were not willing to support her publicly. We're about the same age and I also teach in a biology field where I discuss differences in things like survival and habitat use, between females and males of various species. What I was wondering, though, was how this might have played out if she didn't respond to the grad student's tweet at all and just ignored it, or talked to her in person. I understand the desire to defend yourself, but it seemed like getting more interest in the situation became the real problem. How many people would have noticed Laura's tweet outside of some the other students? Would the situation have been avoided?
It's a good question. The problem is in part the mindlessness of the twitter-verse or the social media world. But in part it is also that the DEI apparatus uses that mindless world to enhance its power and authority. If you came to Harvard administrators and said they should act because of gossip you overheard at a party about someone, they'd probably scold you about crediting rumors. But somehow they have allowed the megaphoned gossip of social media to be credited. So, yes, Carole should not perhaps have re-tweeted (or whatever the terminology is) as she did, but the shame should be on those in authority who uses that tech-world drivel as evidence against someone.
“In 1998, before I started studies for my PhD at Harvard, I spent nearly a year doing field research in Uganda on the behavior of chimpanzees. In retrospect, this work turned out to be useful in understanding dominance hierarchies at the school.”
Thank you for sharing your story Carole.
My criticism of the “mob” at Harvard that forced Carole to resign is this: they add no value to society, build nothing, and only serve to destroy. That is your legacy.
I can't wait to read your book Carole. I have been in academia for the past 6-7 years and am phasing myself out this coming May. I've been through ordeals similar in tone and theme to yours although without a tenth of your popularity or notoriety. It was brutal and I don't think I'll ever quite recover from it to be honest. May more brave folks in academia speak up and start turning the tides. I'm so very sorry for what you endured and I wish you a peaceful and prosperous year ahead!