Madame president

In the wake of serious scrutiny from gender-rights advocates after perceived misogynistic remarks from Harvard’s previous president, Lawrence Summers, the Ivy League school has named Drew Faust as the first female president of the university.\nThe university’s decision means half of the Ivy Leagues are now led by female presidents.\nThe decision comes as no surprise to the editorial board. Can you imagine what would have happened if Harvard hadn’t chosen a woman?\nSuperficially, this move might be counted as a win in the war for gender equality in academia. But we worry this shift to female academic leadership isn’t inspired by recognizing women for their outstanding achievement, but instead by a desire to undo the past. Since the inception of this country, there has been profound gender inequality in academia. That’s not news. With the majority of college students now being female than male, America has certainly come a long way. \nThe ascension of women into positions of academic power has been a much slower process. And much like a bandage on a flesh wound that is evidence of a deeper problem, giving women preferential treatment over men is not the correct way to rectify past injustice.\nThough Harvard’s presidential selection committee was understandably in a hard place, other universities should not take the same cue. Choosing a university’s leader is far too important of a decision to use as a tool for political jockeying and political correctness.\nIf the leaders in academia are truly concerned with promoting gender equality, the best way to go about it is a blind search process. Look for the most qualified candidates, of whatever gender, age, race or sexual orientation, and hire the one who is best for the job on resume alone. The law of probability suggests that, since women are indeed as capable as men, the ratio of men to women in academic leadership will balance itself out if only qualification, not gender, is taken into account. Holding women to lower standards to achieve false equality doesn’t do anyone any good. We worry Faust’s tenure will be overshadowed with doubt that she was chosen simply because she was the most qualified woman, not the most qualified candidate.\nIU is now also in a sticky situation. With the presidential search recently being made partially public, we believe at least one of the candidates is female. There is a possibility that IU could have a female president for the first time in its history.\nIt is our sincere hope that the possibility for good press and political correctness does not overshadow the selection process. If Dr. Ora Pescovitz is the most qualified candidate to lead IU into an era of greater dominance, by all means choose her. But if there is a more qualified candidate, that is who we want – no matter the gender.\nNow might be the time for a female president at IU, but more importantly, it is time for the best president possible.