Paul Tudor Jones II, a prominent University of Virginia alumnus and billionaire hedge-fund manager, upset alumni and faculty members with comments he made at a campus event last month while discussing the disproportionate number of men who are financial traders, according to The Washington Post.
Mr. Jones was part of a panel of four investors convened to share their views on business and philanthropy. Several audience members submitted questions about the absence of women on the panel. During the exchange, Mr. Jones said many traders must work long hours and have an extraordinary commitment to the job. He suggested that many women opt out of such a demanding career, especially once they have children.
Carl P. Zeithaml, dean of the university’s McIntire School of Commerce, said he had received complaints about Mr. Jones’s comments, and sent an e-mail to students and faculty members urging everyone, including women and members of underrepresented minority groups, to “enthusiastically and optimistically” pursue the careers of their choice. He also shared an open letter from a 2001 alumnus urging young women to pursue careers in finance.
Mr. Zeithaml told the newspaper that Mr. Jones was sharing his view of the industry rather than offering an endorsement of the status quo, and said the remarks had largely been misinterpreted. “Paul was in no way trying to convey bias,” he said, though he acknowledged that Mr. Jones “might have said it a little bit differently.”
