On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 11:22 AM, Melinda Shore
<melinda(_dot_)shore(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>wrote:
On 6/19/13 7:16 AM, Peter Saint-Andre wrote:
Actually I see lots of structural problems -- I just happen to be of the
mindset that working from the bottom up is the only sustainable model
for change.
Don't know about that one. In the US, at least, legal mandates
have typically led social change, at least when it comes to civil
rights, etc.
When the IETF was being started Harvard had just abolished its quota on
hiring Jews and was attempting to correct their past discrimination by
awarding tenure to people like Larry Summers a year after they handed in
their dissertation.
That was not bottom up change. It was change that was forced from the top
down in response to bottom up pressure on the decision makers. It was not
Harvard that decided to reform, it was the government that told Harvard
that it would reform or see no more government grants. They still have the
'legacies' program in place that was originally adopted to keep Jews out of
a Protestant organization.
Academia is still one of the worst environments for discrimination. They
don't have formal barriers as in the past but the informal barriers are
steep.
--
Website: http://hallambaker.com/