Hopkins says she was corresponding with a Boston Globe reporter about another matter later when the reporter asked about the NBER conference.

“It never crossed my mind that it was a story,” Hopkins says. Having left in the middle of the speech, she says she thought it possible that Summers “was being provocative but that he might go on to say that these were thoughts people had a hundred years ago before they knew better.”

The day after Summers’ speech, Hopkins says she was in a taxi in New York City thinking about her reaction to the remarks when she got a call from the Globe reporter and decided to describe how she felt while listening to the speech.

Hopkins was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying she “would’ve either blacked out or thrown up” had she stayed at the conference.

“You have one moment to help educate people...I have to say the truth, so people can learn why this unfounded belief in women’s intellectual inferiority is so devastating,” Hopkins says. “The possibility that it was more than one moment of education did not cross my mind.”

In the fallout from Summers’ remarks—and Hopkins’ now-notorious exit—the University created two task forces to investigate ways to further women’s pursuits in the sciences.

Hopkins, who is acknowledged in the recently released committee report on Women in Science and Engineering, lauds the recommendations of the two task forces, which include new advising opportunities for women in science and a vice-provost position for faculty diversity, in addition to the administration’s $50 million allocation.

“I expect that there will be very significant progress. I hope that President Summers...will come to be a champion of this cause, and will become known for advancing it,” Hopkins says.

“Maybe Summers got into it in a bit of an odd way,” she continues. “Maybe he’ll be responsible for turning it around at Harvard.”

—Staff writer Sara E. Polsky can be reached at polsky@fas.harvard.edu.