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Before we jump into a "HOW DID AN IDIOT GET INTO HARVARD?!"-a-thon here, I'd really like to see the rest of the email. What she said is fairly silly (if for no other reason than the constant blurring of races that marches forward without ceasing) but the statement is very awkwardly couched, and could be anywhere from MUCH worse to a poorly-phrased example that reveals basic racial bias instead of overt racism.
Like Little32 said, the same statements have been made about women in the near and distant past - and, by and large, we now know those statements are mostly absurd but also partially based in fact, in that women are often predisposed (both based on genetic differences and gender/social roles pushed by society) to excel in certain areas and men in others, in terms of learning, expression and communication. It's not Mars and Venus, but there are subtle yet important differences between men and women. Women are not implicitly stupider (indeed, there's a fairly strong argument that they are predisposed to achieve better in a 'traditional' educational setting than men), but there are genetic differences in learning styles and abilities.
Now, with that said, it's very telling that her Intro to Eugenics argument started with the premise "African Americans may indeed be genetically inferior," for all intents and purposes. It is likely she has some deep-seated racial prejudices, which makes her the norm rather than the exception, but still sucks. It's quite bizarre that this has turned into push to end her clerkship or out her publicly - which makes me think the young lady already had her share of enemies or antagonists (which might be the height of irony, depending on circumstances).
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Hybrid Mode
