A professor’s remarks on women in the workplace drew ire from students, faculties, and local politicians.
Hundred of protesters demonstrated at Boise State University on Dec. 4 in protest of a professor who argued that universities should prioritize men over women in fields such as engineering, medicine, and law.
“Every effort made must be made not to recruit women into engineering, but rather to recruit and demand more of men who become engineers,” said Boise State political science professor Scott Yenor at the National Conservatism Conference on Oct. 31. “Ditto for med school, and the law, and every trade.”
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Yenor’s remarks and the accompanying protest earned the ire of many students and faculty, who organized a rally on Dec. 4 to protest Yenor’s comments.
#MeddlesomeWomen a thread. .@BoiseBrooke and .@Walton_Emily did something big with all of you! Thank you for coming out and supporting women at #BSU and in all of Idaho! #idpol pic.twitter.com/jFlWGPWnXw
— theidaho97 (@theidaho97) December 4, 2021
All of BSU’s political science department signed a letter on Dec. 5 stating that Yenor’s remarks “directly contradict the experience of many of us, as well as what empirical research shows about women.”
Just in: All of Scott Yenor’s active faculty colleagues signed this email from @BoiseState Political Science Dept.
“The ideas expressed in this speech directly contradict the experience of many of us, as well as what empirical research shows about women.” #idpol pic.twitter.com/CresDRWeyN
— Blake Hunter (@blakehunterrr) December 5, 2021
The protest also attracted the attention of several local politicians, including Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and Idaho state Rep. Brooke Green. Both women expressed their support for the demonstration and disgust with Yenor’s remarks.
We have an incredible group of elected women working to protect our community AND thousands of women keeping us safe, healthy, educated, inspired and more. Thanks to each and every one of you who serves, cares, advocates, organizes and more. https://t.co/OFKUGpLMVw
— Lauren McLean (@laurenmclean) December 4, 2021
“Women are here to stay,” Green told KTVB. “We’re not going to be private. We are going to be present in our daily lives.”
Yenor, whose speech was titled “The Family Form that Nations Need,” argued that women are seeking purpose through “mid-level bureaucratic jobs” and that they are “more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than they need to be.”
Yenor advocated for “preparing young women to become mothers, not finding every reason for young women to delay motherhood until they are established in a career or sufficiently independent.”
Yenor later elaborated on his remarks, claiming that he was referring to universities “making special efforts to recruit women into fields where they don’t seem to want to be” and denied wanting to prevent women from entering those fields.
“Boise State University understands that the open exchange of ideas, which is fundamental to education, can introduce uncomfortable and even offensive ideas,” BSU said in a statement to CNN. “However, the university cannot infringe upon the First Amendment rights of anyone in our community, regardless of whether we, as individual leaders, agree or disagree with the message. No single faculty member defines what Boise State — or any public university — endorses or stands for.”
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Yenor is a member of the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life. This conservative think tank says that it intends to form a “new Right” and “restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.”
Boise State did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
