[peterhalburt33]

I will say IMO (and experience) in professional math that while there is perhaps more of a chance for an outsider to have an impact, Mathematics is hardly free from bias towards insiders: it can manifest itself as subtly as using notation as a shibboleth (e.g. it’s somewhat easy to tell which community an author comes from through their notation and terminology, and equally easy to harbor resentment towards those outside your field) all the way to active “prove I’m the most clever in the room” syndrome during seminars. I’d like to think that a more collaborative atmosphere is prevailing now due to the rise of interdisciplinary and applied math, but people are people everywhere and as Sayre stated “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low.”