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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
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FROM TODAY’S DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN, Independent Student Newspaper, University of Pennsylvania GUTMANN UNDER FIRE FOR NURSING REMARKS 'Innate differences' cited as reason for gender disparity in undergrad Nursing students By Jason Schwartz April 12, 2005 University President Amy Gutmann has come under fire for her assertion yesterday that "innate differences" are the reason females greatly outnumber males in the undergraduate School of Nursing. "In the special case of nursing and caregiving, there are issues of intrinsic aptitude, and particularly of the variability of aptitude," she said. "The majority of males naturally lack the empathy and compassion necessary to be effective nurses." Although this issue has failed to capture the attention of most male students -- largely because almost none of them want to be nurses anyway -- Gutmann's comments have particularly raised the ire of the only three male Nursing professors in the school. William McCool, associate professor of Nurse Midwifery, said that he is planning on initiating a campaign forcing Gutmann to resign. "What is she talking about? It doesn't take any innate ability to give a throat culture or measure blood pressure," he said, adding, "What's this crap about males lacking empathy and compassion anyway?" When asked if he thought his comments might offend Gutmann, McCool unempathetically responded, "I don't care." It is currently unclear whether the controversy will prompt a resignation from Gutmann. According to a Daily Pennsylvanian poll, 54 percent of faculty have said that they were offended by Gutmann's comments and would encourage her to resign. In a followup question, 92 percent responded that they enjoy making jokes about male nurses. "Myself, even I enjoy a good male nurse joke every once in a while," McCool said. He later conceded that he pursued a career in nursing "for the jokes." Twelve percent of the faculty were actually unaware that Penn has an undergraduate School of Nursing. "Hell, I didn't even know that we had one, and I guess I used to be in charge of it," said History Department Chairman and former University President Sheldon Hackney. "I can't imagine what the marginal utility of such a school is," said Economics professor Rebecca Stein. Harvard President Lawrence Summers has come under fire for making similar comments regarding women in science. The Harvard College faculty recently held a vote of no confidence in Summers. "I'm glad somebody finally agrees with me," Summers said. Innate differences between men and women he said, will likely lead to Gutmann's resignation, while he is likely to reign at Harvard for another decade. |