[Fudd]

What I learned is that the damn lies (read statistics) that the learned Mr. Horowitz sited were overwhelmingly from the humanities departments. I am quite certain had the data been culled from the engineering, math, physics and hard science side of the house that it would have evened out the gap.

As someone working in these circles, I might agree with this statement, to a point. However, I also remember that the Dean of the College of Engineering at THE Ohio State University said, in a recent meeting closed to the faculty, that the college would not hire a faculty member "white, male and over 50".

[SBeck]

It seems strange that the Dean would reduce the available pool of applicants at a time when qualified engineers are at a premium. However, there may be another explanation, he, and I'm assuming it's a he, may be looking at the future by getting more mileage out of a fresh-faced "kid" of 35 who will be competing for research funds for close to three decades.