Larry Summers and the UC Regents

After 300 hundred “people from the University system” (what does that mean?) signed a petition, Larry Summers, former Clinton Treasury Secretary and former Harvard President, was “disinvited” and a replacement found who is both Liberal and lesbian (a twofer).

Lawrence Summers, the controversial former president of Harvard University, has been replaced as the planned speaker at a UC Board of Regents dinner next week after complaints from faculty members.

"(UC Regents) Chairman Richard Blum and Dr. Summers talked last Thursday and agreed that the regents would have a different speaker," Trey Davis, director of special projects for the UC system, said Saturday.

Davis was unable to say whether a protest letter signed by more than 300 people from the university system had any effect on the decision to find a different speaker for the regents' dinner in Sacramento on Wednesday. He referred those questions to Blum, who is out of the country.

Summers, who was Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, resigned from Harvard last year after a long-running clash with some faculty members over his questioning whether women might not have the same innate ability as men in disciplines such as science, math and engineering. He also had thorny relations with minority faculty members during his time at the university.

While Summers later apologized for his remarks, which he said were misinterpreted, it didn't slow the criticism, which continues to this day.

"I was appalled and stunned that someone like Summers would even be invited to speak to the regents," said UC Davis Professor Maureen Stanton, who helped put together the petition drive. "I think many of us who were involved in the protest believed that it wouldn't reflect well on the university that he even received the invitation."

I am experiencing Schadenfreude. I heartily disliked the Clinton administration and all its minions. People who freely associate with the Clintons have lost their moral compass, pawning their souls for high public office. The irony of Larry Summers being bounced from his post at Harvard and now being shunned at the University of California is a form of cosmic justice.

Summers is, of course, being ostracized by the Left for bowing insufficiently low before the Gods of Political Correctness. Which leads me to wonder: if a Conservative is a Liberal who has been mugged by reality, is there hope for Larry Summers?

...Stanton now hopes the dispute will be quickly forgotten.

"Frankly, we'd like to see the story just die at this point," she said.

No doubt.

For those who have an opinion on this issue, you can contact two of the responsible parties (thanks to Greg Mankiw):

Here's the person who rescinded the invitation, the Chairman of the UC Board of Regents:

Chairman Richard Blum
Office of the Secretary
1111 Franklin St., 12th floor
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 987-9220

Here's the Professor mentioned in the article as helping to organize the petition:

Maureen L. Stanton
Chair - Evolution and Ecology, Professor
Evolution and Ecology (College of Biological Sciences)
4324 Storer Hall
Office 752-2405
mlstanton@ucdavis.edu