Summers’ release of the transcript yesterday came in response to strong Faculty pressure at Tuesday’s Faculty meeting.

According to Cabot Professor of Social Ethics Mahzarin R. Banaji, that pressure made the release of the tape almost inevitable.

“When a demand of this sort is made of the president, it is quite likely that the president will comply in the spirit of free inquiry,” Banaji said.

Faculty who criticized Summers for withholding the transcript said that honest debate about the issues can finally occur.

“We will all read his remarks and evaluate what he said,” said Professor of Anthropology and of African and African American Studies J. Lorand Matory, who sharply criticized Summers at Tuesday’s meeting. “One keeps an open mind about the substance of the remarks today.”

Higgins Professor of Natural Science Barbara J. Grosz, chair of the Task Force on Women in Science, who was one of the first professors at Tuesday’s meeting to call for the release of the transcript, said she was “very glad” about yesterday’s development.

She also approved of Summers’ statement—in a letter accompanying the release of the transcript—that he regrets “the backlash directed against individuals who have taken issue with aspects of what I said.”

But faculty satisfaction with Summers’ actions will not prevent them from debating—and likely severely criticizing—the substance of the speech, both in private and at next Tuesday’s much-anticipated continuation of this week’s Faculty meeting.

“He’s just flat-out wrong when he argues in favor of genetic differences,” said Banaji. “As a psychologist who studies these issues as opposed to someone who merely has opinions, I would say that President Summers has not read the literature.”

Banaji nevertheless said she would not vote “no confidence” in Summers if a vote were held at the meeting.

One senior faculty member said the remarks demonstrated what has been perceived as Summers’ tactless handling of administrative issues.

“The whole thing that comes across is that women can’t hack it,” the professor said. “I’m very surprised that he says it so sweepingly, and I don’t know what he was thinking.”

While some will likely seize on the transcript to further criticize Summers, his defenders—including Pinker—say that the transcript exonerates the president from accusations of prejudice.

Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature Ruth R. Wisse said that in addition to clearing Summers’ name, the transcript allows for an indictment of the feminists who have criticized his ideas.

“Clearly, if there was to be any reaction to Larry Summers’ speech, it should have begun with giving him the freedom to present his ideas in the form that he chooses to do so,” she said.