Reviving the Overlooked Voices of the ENIAC Programmers
The recent <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/02/22/summers_to_step_down_ending_tumult_at_harvard/">resignation of Lawrence Summers as Harvard President</a> has prompted much discussion in feminist circles. There is an unfortunate editorial in the March 5, 2006 <em>Boston Sunday Globe </em>by John Silber defending Lawrence Summers' track record. Silber suggests that creating The Stem Cell Institute, digitizing library holdings, and making curricular reform should override Summers' open bigotry to women and his hostility to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornel_West">Cornel West</a>. I and many women strongly disagree. The academy cannot tolerate the small-minded bigotry of Lawrence Summers. Prejudice is a trump card that overrides any accomplishment in the academy. When this no-tolerance policy is no longer true our society will be lost. No one expresses better the harm Lawrence Summers has done than <a href="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php">Jean Bartik</a>, one of the original ENIAC programmers. I highly recommend you listen to <a href="http://www.witi.com/center/aboutwiti/videos/eniac_jean_win_lo.php">her oral history</a>. Enjoy! Thanks Jean!