It is supremely ironic that the nation’s most liberal university would react to the outspoken leadership of its president, L.H. Summers, by significantly contributing to his resignation. The small minority of faculty within the Arts & Science Departments wherein he criticized the lack of scholarship in the former and gender imbalance in the latter. True, he did raise the hackles of women by suggesting their scientific shortcomings, for which he promptly apologized, despite its nagging truth of most women’s lack of interest in the field. His evaluation that African-American art focus more on scholarship drew accusations of racism.

In face of the undergraduates’ overwhelmingly approval of Summers, this sordid event exemplifies the intolerance a liberal faculty has for freedom of speech not its own — echoes of Islamic reaction to cartoons.