NEW YORK, Jan 22 (AFP) - Former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, who heads the prestigious Harvard University, has been under fire since reportedly suggesting that "innate" differences between men and women may explain why women are less successful at math and science.
His statement has infuriated women academics, and Summers has publicly apologized at least four times since delivering a speech on women and science on January 14.
"I deeply regret the impact of my comments and apologize for not having weighed them more carefully," Summers, who held his top US cabinet post under former president Bill Clinton, wrote in a letter posted since Wednesday on the home page of the school's website.
No transcript of Summers' remarks was ever released, but his statement on women has been widely reported in the US media.
The conference was organized by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit economic research organization.
"Despite reports to the contrary, I did not say, and I do not believe, that girls are intellectually less able than boys, or that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of science," Summers wrote in the letter.
"It is a capacity shared by girls and boys, by women and men, and we must do all we can to nurture, develop, and recognize it, along with other vital talents."
During his remarks at the conference, Summers listed possible reasons for the smaller number of women in science faculties, including whether "innate" differences between the sexes might explain why fewer women succeed in math and science careers, according to US media.
A letter from Harvard's Standing Committee on Women, signed by some 50 professors, lamented that Summers' remarks "did not serve our institution well" and could discourage prospective students and professors from joining the 369-year-old school.
Donna Nelson, a chemistry professor at University of Oklahoma who attended the conference, wrote, "The pertinent issue is not merely about sex differences."
"There are other 'hypotheticals' to account for women's lower numbers and proportions, such as discouragement at school, discrimination in getting into top graduate programs, disparagement of their work, and behavior which makes women feel like outsiders," she said.
Summers, 50, who has led the school since July 2001, said he has received many e-mails and telephone calls since making his remarks.
"I have learned a great deal from all that I have heard in the last few days," he wrote in his letter posted on Harvard's website.
"I attended the (January 14) conference with the intention of reinforcing my strong commitment to the advancement of women in science, and offering some informal observations on possibly fruitful avenues for further research," he said.
"I was wrong to have spoken in a way that has resulted in an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women," Summers added.
01/22/2005 22:23 GMT - AFP