University will not take back ‘sexist’ scientist
More Nobel winners back Sir Tim ... but ex-boss says gender equality comes first
THE Nobel Prize-winning scientist forced to resign after making light-hearted comments about women in the lab will not be reinstated, his boss said last night.
Professor Michael Arthur, president and provost of University College London, broke his silence over the row and ruled out reversing his decision to accept Sir Tim Hunt’s resignation.
He claimed a commitment to gender equality was more important than the ‘personal difficulty’ now facing Sir Tim and his wife.
And he insisted that reinstating Sir Tim would send out the ‘entirely wrong signal’ as his remarks – even if meant to be taken lightly – ‘contradict the basic values of UCL’.
Professor Arthur spoke after two more Nobel Prize-winning scientists threw their support behind Sir Tim. Serge Haroche, professor of quantum physics at the Collège de France, described the response to his comments as ‘a manhunt’ while Professor Wolfgang Ketterle, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called it an overreaction.
Sir Tim, 72, had joked at a conference in South Korea that men and women should ‘ work in separate labs’. He told the audience: ‘Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.’ The scientist, who won a Nobel Prize in 2001, later said his comments were light-hearted.
On his return to the UK, he quit his honorary professorship at UCL amid a social media storm, along with his roles at the Royal Society and European Research Council.
His wife, Professor Mary Collins, said she was told by a senior UCL figure – understood to be Dean of Life Sciences Geraint Rees – that he ‘should resign or be sacked’. It led to claims, including from biologist Richard Dawkins, that Sir Tim had been the victim of a witch-hunt.
But the women journalists who revealed his comments insisted they had been right to blow the whistle. Pulitzer Prize- winner Deborah Blum had previously posted a picture online of Sir Tim laughing over breakfast as she discussed his comments with him the following morning. She maintained he had told her that at the time he was being ‘honest’.
Yesterday, Professor Arthur argued that he accepted the resignation ‘ in good faith on the basis that it was his personal choice as the honourable thing to do’. In an article for the university’s website on ‘women in science’, he said: ‘First let me say that I do regret that my acceptance of that resignation, and our announcement of it, has led to so much personal difficulty for Sir Tim and also for Professor Mary Collins, who is a highly respected and valued senior member of staff at UCL.’
Professor Arthur admitted ‘society and the world of science’ were divided over the furore.
But he said that ‘equality, diversity and the greatest good for the greatest number’ were very important to the university.
‘It was for this very reason that Sir Tim’s remarks struck such a discordant note. Our ambition is to create a working environment in which women feel supported and valued at work.’
He added that there had been ‘many calls’ for him to reverse his decision to accept Sir Tim’s resignation. ‘But there have also been very significant representations to me not to do so, including, but not only, from women in science.
‘Our view is reversing that decision would send entirely the wrong signal and I have reason to believe that Sir Tim would also not want that to happen. An honorary appointment is meant to bring honour both to the person and to the university.’