Skocpol's Reprieve

THE OPPOSING FACTIONS in Theda R. Skocpol's grievance against the Sociology Department agree that Dean Rosovsky made a wise decision in advancing her case to the next step in the tenure process, and we concur. Rosovsky was right to accept the unanimous judgment of the three-member Faculty committee investigation the 33-year-old associate professor of Sociology's charges.

The opposing factions also agree that the grievance process, which began with Skocpol's filing of charges last November, was long, arduous, and wearisome. Maybe so, but it was also beneficial, for it brought to the community's attention several important issues that transcend the Skocpol case alone.

First, and perhaps most significantly, two members of the Faculty found evidence that sex discrimination influenced the Sociology Department's tenure recommendation vote. The finding, by two of the three grievance panel members, confirms what many have believed for a long time--that sex bias is a pervasive, if subtle, force in the University. We urge that the University's and Faculty's affirmative action offices, which must now undertake the investigation of Skocpol's sex discrimination charge, pursue the issue vigorously. Students and junior and senior Faculty members must watch carefully to make sure the serious question of sex bias is not swept under the bureaucratic rug.

The possibility that a misunderstanding occured between members of the Sociology Department and President Bok over his views on granting tenure to young scholars is another matter that must not be ignored. Whatever Bok actually meant or said, several Sociology professors say they recall him saying that Harvard is not well disposed to take academic risks by tenuring scholars with little published work to their names. The president has an obligation to clarify his stand in public. And we hope that members of the Sociology Department did hear Bok wrong.

Finally, the Skocpol case, sex discrimination charges aside, points out once again Harvard's paranoia about people who do not espouse the company line. Even if sex bias were not an issue in Skocpol's case, bias against her radical political views and her qualitative/comparative approach to Sociology would be. Discrimination against political and academic views within the university is as pervasive a problem as sex bias. For that reason, the Faculty should establish a grievance process that encompasses all forms of discrimination. It also needs--as the Skocpol case makes eminently clear--a procedure to allow junior professors to appeal what are fundamentally ill-considered decisions.