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Wow, this is a tough one. When I was an undergrad at MIT in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Walter Lewin was synonymous with amazing physics teaching. We woul
by reuven 12y ago
Wow, this is a tough one.
When I was an undergrad at MIT in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Walter Lewin was synonymous with amazing physics teaching. We would watch his videos on MIT's internal cable TV channel, to better understand (or just to understand) our physics homework.
I wasn't surprised to find that Lewin became an online teaching star, and that he was repeatedly praised for his instructional videos. Indeed, just a few days ago, I showed some of his videos to my 13-year-old daughter, who is showing some interest in physics.
So the videos are good and useful, and nothing changes the fact that Lewin is an exceptional teacher.
At the same time, it looks like MIT has investigated these charges of sexual harassment, and that there is truth to them. True, without hearing more details, we have to rely upon their judgment, which is frustrating. But the press release tries to make it clear that the investigation was handled by multiple people, including faculty members, and that it wasn't a one-time occurrence.
So I'm willing to believe, and be profoundly disappointed, as I accept the fact that Lewin engaged in sexual harassment. Such behavior is unacceptable, and I'm glad that MIT wants to stop it.
However, I wonder whether removing high-quality courses from the Internet is the right way to do that. I assume that they removed the videos so as to remove any reputational damage that Lewin's actions might cause to MIT. But there is also some educational damage here, and many people will suffer as a result.
There is no good or right answer here. I think that MIT is trying to do the right thing, but I'm not sure if their actions were, on balance, the right thing to do. I do hope that their actions will make it clear to other faculty members that they simply cannot behave this way, though.
- hga 12y agoThe "First Commandment" of MIT is to not embarrass the Institute, so, yeah, a concern of reputational damage is certainly at the forefront here. The problem, of course, is that this digital book burning is also causing reputational damage to the Institute, and I would guess quite a bit more. That professors are human is hardly a revelation. That the world's top engineering university would engage in such an overreaction, cutting off students in the middle of study (even if copies are available elsewhere, many will not learn of them, and there's disruption and chaos in the meantime), putting its online teaching efforts into jeopardy ... that's really big.
- rada 12y agoThat professors are human is hardly a revelation. Did you just equate being human to forcing unwanted sexual interactions on individuals under your power and stewardship? Wow. Just wow. cutting off students in the middle of study... It may cut off a few students this one time but the overall effect is to improve study conditions for multiple students for years to come.
- hga 12y ago"Did you just equate being human to forcing unwanted sexual interactions on individuals under your power and stewardship? Wow. Just wow." Yes, it's well within the arc of normal human behavior (power corrupts and all that). If you weren't surprised to learn of this event you should agree, unless: More generally, another MIT professor said, to great acclaim from the class including myself, that "Original Sin is an empirical observation". And this is the precise fault line between the right and the modern left: is man "fallen", or perfectible? And getting back to this case, if the latter, what do you do with those you can't perfect? From that comes, among other things, examples like this of making people unpersons.
- reuven 12y agoI can completely understand removing Lewin from the faculty as a professor emeritus. I can understand getting rid of his e-mail address and office (which I believe were also done). If he really engaged in sexual harassment, then he deserves to have the book thrown at him. The question isn't whether to punish him or make an example out of him. The question is whether we should remove all of the high-quality work that he did because of his moral or legal failings. I'm not sure. Emotionally, I like the idea of removing his work from EdX. But I find it hard to justify pedagogically.
- hga 12y agoRevenge, for that is the best possible interpretation of MIT's deletion action, and is I assume related to your emotional desire, frequently makes poor policy. If it is motivating you, you should think really, really hard about it, preferably at a remove from what sparked it (and if you can't achieve that, e.g. victims and those close to them, then have some people you trust provide that). Heck, his "Banned in Boston!" works might achieve greater fame, lure of the forbidden fruit, and plenty of us had never particularly heard of him before now....