Is Harvard's Design School Sexist?

Controversy over the lack of female faculty at Harvard's Graduate School of Design has erupted after a adjunct professor of landscape architecture submitted her resignation in protest of the school's gender imbalance.

1 minute read

January 19, 2007, 10:00 AM PST

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"An adjunct professor of landscape architecture at Harvard University who resigned Friday in a letter decrying the Graduate School of Design's gender inequities - including the landscape architecture department's utter lack of a female tenure hire in its 106-year existence - rescinded her resignation after the school's dean and Harvard's interim president, Derek C. Bok, convinced her to stay."

"The incident is the latest development in the gender wars at Harvard, where an internal report released by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in October found that just 20 percent of individuals who accepted tenure-track offers at the university's main undergraduate college last year were women, a decline from 40 percent in 2004-5."

"Alan Altshuler, the current graduate school dean, wrote in an e-mail that while the design school may have proven to be unfriendly territory for the advancement of female faculty in the past, things have changed since the early 1990s."

Thursday, January 18, 2007 in Inside Higher Ed

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Aerial view of town of Wailuku in Maui, Hawaii with mountains in background against cloudy sunset sky.

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly

Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

July 1, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 9, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing

The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

3 hours ago - Strong Towns

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

4 hours ago - Smart Cities Dive

Green Skid Row mural satirizing city limit sign in downtown Los Angeles, California.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents

The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.

5 hours ago - Los Angeles Public Press