Dr. Arthur said that Prof.
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“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls”, Hunt is quoted as saying at the conference. Sir Tim Hunt, who has been accused of sexist remarks, won’t be reinstated, the president and provost of University College London (UCL) declared in a recently released statement. Hunt said that women cry when they get criticized and fall in love with their male co-workers.
Bothered by Sir Tim’s fate, a group of scientists (including eight fellow Nobel Prize winners and some senior female academics) broke their silence and threw publicly their unwavering support to the man who made significant contribution on cell division. Sir Tim Serge from College de France called it ‘a manhunt’ while Professor Wolfgang Ketterle of MIT called it ‘overreaction’. He added that he felt that although Hunt has apologized for his remarks, they in way diminish his work as a scientist.
After returning to the United Kingdom, he resigned his honorary professorship at the university when a social media storm erupted.
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, and scientist Richard Dawkins also feel as that Hunts remarks were blown out of proportion. Starting with the question, “Why are the British so embarrassing overseas?”
Prof. Arthur further said that Tim’s offer of resignation is his personal choice, and that was the most honorable thing to do in the circumstance.
Arther said the resignation was accepted in good faith and would remain in place despite pressure to reverse it. Although it was a hard decision, he said, Hunt’s remarks create a potentially hostile environment for women and that inclusion and diversity were too important to the university to risk that.
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Professor Arthur disclosed that “society and the world of science” were divided over the controversy. Sir Tim made a very poor joke and it quite rightly backfired. Arthur asserted that the commitment to gender equality and support for women in science was and is the ultimate concern of UCL.
