Give me your tired, your poor, your mathematicians… The University of Chicago Chronicle (February 25) reports that for the first time last year, more than half of the people receiving mathematics PhDs in this country were not U.S. citizens. “If not for the brain drain from overseas,” says U. of C. mathematics chairman J. Peter May, “it would not be possible to staff U.S. mathematics departments even at a skeletal level.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Graduate school enrollment among blacks declined by roughly 20 percent from the mid-70s to mid-80s across the nation,” reports At Chicago (March 2). Most alarming, according to UIC Graduate College’s Karen Williams, is that “the numbers are getting so small so rapidly. Between 1976 and 1984, we’re seeing 12,000 fewer blacks in graduate schools” because of fewer grants, higher loan rates, and difficulty in finding mentors in predominantly white faculties.
Your taxes at work, chapter one: “An EPA staffer accidentally gave me the number for [EPA] Director Lee Thomas’ personal phone,” writes Fred Nelson of the National Network for the Chemically Hypersensitive, as quoted in In These Times (March 9-15). “I called and his administrative assistant answered, ‘Director Thomas’ office.’ The response to my query, ‘Is the director available,’ was ‘What company are you with?’ I responded, ‘I’m not with any company but with a foundation concerned with the health effects of pesticides.’ Pause. ‘Does the director personally know you?’ ‘No but he should be aware of the foundation.’ Very long pause, followed by, ‘The director isn’t available; someone will get back to you.’”
“Family fairness” is the new policy of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, according to Legalization Bulletin (January 1988), published by the Citizens Information Service of Illinois: “If both [illegal alien] parents qualify for legalization (or one parent in a single-parent household), the INS will not deport minor children if they are apprehended.” Some people are all heart.
