Phillips gives credit to Summers for — intentionally or not — debunking the idea that racial and gender equity is a reality in American academia.
“In many ways, I’m very grateful to Larry Summers because there is always the danger when you have high-profile appointments —
as we have had with Ruth Simmons at Brown and Shirley Tilghman at Princeton — to draw the conclusion that ‘The problem is solved,’” Phillips says. “The problem of sexism and racism are far from solved. President Summers, whatever his motivation for saying what he did, had the effect of reminding everybody, yet again, how far we are.”
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