The Bell Curve of Censorship

Durham, N. C.—What do Conservative Republican William Bennett and Liberal Democrat Larry Summers have in common? Both the radio talk show host and the Ivy League economist have run afoul of the gods of the politically correct by doing what academics traditionally do, or did, namely, looking at evidence and reaching conclusions.

Bennett is perhaps the “victim” most insulated from academic rebuke, since his work takes place mostly outside the Ivory Tower. His case is probably also the most ironic: He was accused of supporting a noxious theory that he actually criticized—that aborting black babies would lower the crime rate.

“What part of the words ‘morally reprehensible’ do you not understand?,” Professor John Staddon asked of Bennett’s own characterization of the “eugenics for safer streets” school of thought. The Duke University biologist actually practices intellectual curiosity at a time when many of contemporaries are trying to ration it.

For example, he was willing to examine and acknowledge the heartbreaking statistics on blacks and crime that figured in the Bennett flap. “Among men, blacks are about six times as likely (28.5%) to be admitted to prison as whites (4.4%),” Professor Staddon pointed out in a conference here. At the annual conference of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, Professor Staddon noted that one-third of the black populations spend time behind bars compared to less than a tenth of the white populace.

Seemingly more innocuous, the stated observations of Harvard President Larry Summers that men are more likely to be scientists and mathematicians than women have put the economist’s career on the line. “Science magazine showed that what Summers said is accurate,” Professor Staddon observed. “There is in fact nothing that should have been controversial in what Summers said.”

Noticing the same trend that Summers described, “Lee Kwan Yee of Singapore tried to give educated women a bonus for having babies,” Professor Staddon noted.

Nonetheless, referring to Summers as “another Harvard man in trouble,” Professor Staddon admits that “Larry did not major in Tact 101.”

“In 1992, Summers said, ‘I think that the logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste into [one of] the lowest performing economic countries is impeccable.’”

Bennett and Summers are only the latest thinkers to wander out of the academic community’s free speech zone. Social scientist Charles Murray suffered similar approbation for his book The Bell Curve.

Published in 1994, The Bell Curve tried to explore differences in ethnicity and I. Q. test scores. “Should these matters have been publicly discussed?,” Professor Staddon asked rhetorically. “The New York Times, The New Republic and Nathan Glazer say no.”

Professor Staddon does not come to the same conclusions as either Murray or the MSM (Main Stream Media) and MSA (Main Stream Academia). “I. Q. tests predict college performance better than anything else,” Professor Staddon says. “Are I. Q. tests culturally biased?”

“Probably not.” Nonetheless, the professor parts company with Murray before the book’s finale. “The Bell Curve is correlative rather than causative,” Professor Staddon says. “Arguments like this depend on qualitative not quantitative differences.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.