Farewell to Schor

The University suffered a great loss Monday with the announcement that Juliet Schor, professor of economics and director of the women's studies program, will be leaving Harvard for a tenured position at Boston College. A prolific writer and highly respected scholar, Schor has offered vibrant contributions to the University's intellectual community for more than a decade and a half.

However, Schor has not only been an exemplary academic, she has been a beloved educator as well. Renown for her popular courses such as "Shop 'Til You Drop: Women and Gender in Consumer Society," Schor exemplifies that rare mix of intellectual rigor and concern for students that so many Harvard professors lack. The University will be hard pressed to find a professor as talented or dedicated to fill her roles.

On a broader level, Schor's decision to leave once again calls our attention to the dearth of women Faculty at Harvard, especially in light of a similar decision made by Seyla Benhabib earlier this month. In losing Schor and Benhabib, the University loses two of its most distinguished female professors, the directors of two of its most unique degree granting programs and two of its most vocal proponents of gender equity in academia. Already abysmally small, the community of female Faculty members cannot afford diminution instead of growth. If Harvard is to make good on its promises of opening the traditionally male-dominated world of academia to the contributions of women, it must more actively recruit and more stridently work to retain female faculty members.

We can only hope that in future years the departure of prominent women such as Schor and Benhabib is the exception, rather than the rule.