Serge Lang 
File 
Case Study in Correction (1977-1979)

The File is a collection of documents from a major disputeinvolving a number of American college professors, mainlymathematicians, statisticians, and sociologists. Thecontroversy was ignited by the mathematician Serge Lang’sreaction to a questionnaire, "The 1977 Survey of the American Professoriate", distributed by E. C. Ladd of the University of Connecticut and S. M. Lipset of Stanford. Theensuing discussion – in part acrimonious and personal – sooninvolved a large group of active and passive participants, and included issues such as survey techniques, evaluation ofacademic work, public and political honesty, and Mc Carthyismat Harvard.