[IP] more on Transgendered Professor Stirs Debate Over Women in Science
Begin forwarded message:
From: David Allen <David_Allen_AB63@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: July 15, 2006 2:45:05 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: more on Transgendered Professor Stirs Debate Over Women in
Science
Ben Barres is an important voice in a Boston Globe story today,
telling of an ego-strong professor who seems to have run off a
brilliant woman scholar. To note, for balance, there are dissenting
voices in the story, seemingly as always.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/07/15/
mit_star_accused_by_11_colleagues/
David
______
MIT star accused by 11 colleagues
Prospective hire was intimidated, they say
By Marcella Bombardieri and Gareth Cook, Globe Staff | July 15, 2006
Eleven MIT professors have accused a powerful colleague, a Nobel
laureate, of interfering with the university's efforts to hire a
rising female star in neuroscience.
The professors, in a letter to MIT's president, Susan Hockfield ,
accuse professor Susumu Tonegawa of intimidating Alla Karpova , ``a
brilliant young scientist," saying that he would not mentor,
interact, or collaborate with her if she took the job and that
members of his research group would not work with her.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they wrote in their June
30 letter, ``allowed a senior faculty member with great power and
financial resources to behave in an uncivil, uncollegial, and
possibly unethical manner toward a talented young scientist who
deserves to be welcomed at MIT." They also wrote that because of
Tonegawa's opposition, several other senior faculty members cautioned
Karpova not to come to MIT.
She has since declined the job offer.
In response to the June 30 letter, six of Tonegawa's colleagues
defended him in their own letter to Hockfield.
Tonegawa, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is
considered one of the world's top scientists, and also one of the
most powerful. The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, which
he oversees, received $50 million in 2002 to support research into
Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, and other diseases. Despite his success,
Tonegawa saw Karpova ``as a competitive threat to him," according to
a June 27 letter from a Stanford professor to Hockfield. All three
letters were obtained by the Globe. Karpova's job offer was made
jointly by the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the biology
department, which would not have required her to work with Tonegawa.
The MIT professors who signed the letter are pressuring
administrators to give Karpova a formal apology and to investigate
the situation. ``We have damaged MIT's reputation as an institution
that supports academic fairness for young faculty and jeopardized our
ability to attract the best scientists to MIT," wrote the 11
professors, all women, and most involved in MIT committees on gender
equity issues. Several of the professors could not be reached and one
declined to comment.
Hockfield was traveling and unavailable for comment yesterday. MIT's
provost is looking into the allegations, said Robert J. Silbey , the
dean of science. In a statement provided by an MIT spokeswoman, the
university said it cannot discuss hiring situations, but acts to
address any concerns about unfairness in faculty hiring.
Silbey, however, said in an interview with the Globe that he believed
Tonegawa's e-mails and conversations with Karpova were simply
notification that he did not want to collaborate on research. The two
have similar research interests. Karpova is just finishing a
postdoctoral fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York,
and was interviewing for her first faculty job.
``Is he competitive? Yes." Silbey said of Tonegawa. ``What is he
competitive for? To make Picower the best in the world. Does that get
on other people's nerves? Yes."
The incident occurred a few months after an MIT professor raised
concern in a faculty newsletter that the university has stalled in
some of its efforts to hire outstanding women scientists and treat
them equally. In 1999, MIT acknowledged a pervasive bias against
women and promised to work to achieve equity in hiring, pay, and the
overall treatment of women.
The tempest also adds to concerns about the future of MIT's efforts
in neuroscience. Some professors say Tonegawa has already caused
tension because he is overly competitive with any potential rival,
including the McGovern Institute, which shares the same new
neuroscience building at MIT.
MIT professor Tomaso Poggio said Tonegawa appears to want
``everything to be under his control."
``Most people would say that he is very smart and charming and a very
difficult person to deal with. He is not a team player," said Poggio,
a professor at the McGovern Institute.
On July 7, a week after letters criticizing Tonegawa were sent to
Hockfield, a group of six MIT faculty, including two women, wrote to
the president in defense of Tonegawa. The signers of the letter are
all affiliated with the center that Tonegawa oversees. They wrote
that Karpova asked Tonegawa whether he would collaborate with her,
and he said that he would not.
``We feel that Susumu is being unfairly maligned, and we wish to
express our strong support of him," they wrote. ``This is not a
gender issue, and to portray it as such sets back the cause of women
scientists."
The letter also says that punishing Susumu would have ``far-reaching
negative consequences" and would endanger future funding for the
institute Tonegawa oversees.
In an e-mail responding to a Globe request for comment, Karpova would
not field questions about what occurred. ``I do believe that this
problem has been sorted out for the present," she wrote.
She said she was accepting an offer to lead a research team at a lab
called Janelia Farm in Virginia, recently established by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, ``and I am very excited about this unique
opportunity."
Karpova declined the university's job offer in a June 24 e-mail to
the science dean and other MIT officials, according to a copy
included in a complaint to university officials from Stanford
professor Ben A. Barres .
``I wanted very much to come to MIT," she wrote in the e-mail.
``However, the strong resistance to my recruitment by Dr. Tonegawa
has convinced me that I could not develop my scientific career at MIT
in the kind of a nurturing atmosphere that I and the young people
joining my lab would need in order to succeed."
Karpova added that senior faculty at MIT warned her ``about the
professional difficulties I would face at MIT in a situation where
part of the community strongly felt that my research direction could
potentially compete with their scientific interests."
Tonegawa was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
for pioneering work on the genetics of the immune system. He then
moved into neuroscience, and is particularly focused on studying memory.
Several scientists said Karpova is considered one of the most
promising young neuroscientists. Her work ``has incredible potential
for making big steps forward in our understanding of how the brain
works," said Barres, when asked to comment on his letter to MIT. He
wrote in the letter that the young scientist told him about her
experiences at MIT during a visit to Stanford, which also was
interested in hiring her.
Barres's letter also said that in addition to Tonegawa, Silbey, the
science dean, advised Karpova not to come to MIT. Barres also wrote
that Tonegawa told her ``if she came he would do his best to block
her success, including blocking access to the animal facility that he
claims to have control over."
Silbey said that's not true, and contended that he told Karpova he
wanted her to come to MIT. He said the overlap of her research and
Tonegawa's would make it important for her to establish her
independence in order to win tenure.
Tonegawa's tone, in e-mails Silbey saw, ``wasn't at all threatening
or unpleasant. It was in fact quite complimentary," the dean said.
Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@xxxxxxxxxx Gareth
Cook can be reached at g_cook@xxxxxxxxx
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