Posted on 10/06/2021 3:49:05 PM PDT by E Pluribus Bellum
I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT cancelled because of an outrage mob on Twitter. My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit. This is the story of how a cancellation is carried out, why it should worry all of us, and what we can do to stop this dangerous trend.
I have been a professor in the Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago for the past 10 years. I work on topics ranging from climate change to the possibility of life on extrasolar planets using mathematics, physics, and computer simulation.
I have never considered myself a political person. For example, a few days before an election I go to ISideWith.com and answer the policy questions, then I assign my vote using a weighted draw based on my overlap with the candidates. It’s an efficient algorithm that works perfectly for a nerd like me.
But I started to get alarmed about five years ago as I noticed an increasing number of issues and viewpoints become impossible to discuss on campus. I mostly just wanted to do my science and not have anyone yell at me, and I thought that if I kept my mouth shut the problem would eventually go away. I knew that speaking out would likely bring serious reputational and professional consequences. And for a number of years I just didn’t think it was worth it.
But the street violence of the summer of 2020, some of which I witnessed personally in Chicago, and the justifications and dishonesty that accompanied it, convinced me that I could no longer remain silent in good conscience.
snip … worth reading the whole thing.
(Excerpt) Read more at bariweiss.substack.com ...
I read an interview with a woman who had lived under the Nazis and the Soviets. She preferred the Nazis because they told you what to do or not do, and as long as you did it, or didn’t do it, they left you alone. But the Soviets wanted you to think the correct way. If they thought you were not thinking the correct way then you could get shipped off to a camp or even killed. There was no way not to continuously show that you were thinking correctly.
MIT cratered in my estimation when the school kept Jonathan Gruber as a professor and imposed no discipline on him after he admitted his role in perpetrating a fraud to secure the passage of Obamacare.
I just told my wife that early retirement is looking pretty good right now,
Who is John Galt?
Foke Wu
At what point did university administrators lose the stones to stand up for their faculty? At what point did the American Association of University Professors abandon their pledge to support their members? I taught at several well-know private universities and end retiring from a Big 10 university and, when I was teaching, crap like this resulted in the university finding out who caused the trouble and, where warranted, expelling them. It's time for university administrators to earn their bloated pay and protect the university and those who comprise it and quit catering to a bunch of spoiled, Participation-Trophy brats who throw a hissy fit every time they don't get their way.
"Sure enough, this strategy was employed when I was chosen to give the Carlson Lecture at MIT — a major honor in my field. It is an annual public talk given to a large audience and my topic was “climate and the potential for life on other planets.” On September 22, a new Twitter mob, composed of a group of MIT students, postdocs, and recent alumni, demanded that I be uninvited."
"It worked. And quickly."
"On September 30 the department chair at MIT called to tell me that they would be cancelling the Carlson lecture this year in order to avoid controversy."
Shame on MIT, and I say this as a graduate of MIT.
If this person has to use an agorithm to know how to vote? Quit reading there.
Most all of the Americas universities both liberal arts and tech oriented in learning are being run by commie pimps and whores - find a half dozen that aren’t! Same with the school boards and teacher unions / teachers in HS and grade schools all across the nation! They all need to be shut down and fumigated - starting all over!
AND NOW the DOJ wants to come after the parents - and says so in writing! GOOD THEY HAVE DECLARED WAR - Let CWII BEGIN and for good cause - FINALLY!
algorithm
“I mostly just wanted to do my science....”—Dorian Abbot
That used to be the way at MIT for decades and decades! “The Nerd Way”!! It worked magnificently!
Now MIT has a president—Leo Rafael Reif—who is from Venezuela.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Rafael_Reif
Reif instituied a requirement that all MIT undergraduates take a course in “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, before being allowed to register for spring semester classes in 2021:
https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=16137
Given Reif’s Venezuelan background, I wonder it he is a communist. I have no proof of this, but he certainly is acting in a totalitarian way. And his listening to that pack of “diversity” yahoos in canceling Abbot’s lecture adds to my suspicion. Were the yahoos admitted to MIT based on their leftist ideology, rather than their academic qualifications? Inquiring minds want to know!!
And furthermore, other prestigious universities besides MIT are infected with the same leftist ideology. For example, Harvard! Conservative alumni such as myself have no voice in any of these institutions. We mostly have to shut up to avoid being attacked ourselves. Phooey!
Many of you are rightly wondering: What can I do? I asked Dorian for his advice. Here’s what he recommended:
Administrators: Never give in to a mob. Rewarding bad behavior encourages more of it. You, more than anyone else, have the power to put an end to cancel culture by simply ignoring demands made by a mob. Be aware that it’s easy to gather a large number of signatures for just about anything by revving up a Twitter mob, and that many of the signatories of letters of denunciation may have felt intimidated into signing.
Faculty: Cancellation tactics work by isolating the target and fostering an atmosphere of fear. You can help by joining together with others committed to academic freedom. I recommend organizations like AFA, FIRE, Heterodox Academy, and ACTA. If you are ever tempted to join a cancellation mob, remember that you could be the next one on the chopping block. Finally, get the Chicago Principles, the gold standard for academic freedom, and a statement insisting on political neutrality of the university, like the Kalven report, adopted on your campus.
Students: Don’t participate in social media mobbings or sign letters of denunciation. Publicly encourage friends with dissenting viewpoints to speak out, whether you agree with them or not.
Parents: Take into consideration a university’s commitment to academic freedom when you are helping your child decide which school to attend. Ask if the university has adopted the Chicago Principles. Consider the FIRE free speech rankings. Tell university officials that this is something that is important to you.
Alumni Donors: Tell your alma mater that freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and academic freedom are supremely important to you. Ask what protections for free speech are in place and whether the school has endorsed the Chicago Principles. Make your gifts conditional. Stop giving if administrators do not robustly defend these principles.
Trustees: Hold the administrators you appoint responsible for upholding academic freedom. If they refuse, replace them.
Lawmakers: Add stipulations to funding for both public and private universities that require that academic freedom and political neutrality be strictly observed.
Citizens: Make sure your lawmakers know that you want the research you pay for to be untainted by ideology.
I have never considered myself a political person. For example, a few days before an election I go to ISideWith.com and answer the policy questions, then I assign my vote using a weighted draw based on my overlap with the candidates. It’s an efficient algorithm that works perfectly for a nerd like me.
Sadly, both university boards and accreditation agencies have bought into much of this agit-prop and are cowed by threats and overt violence of the left. Yes, most administrators lean left, too. But even veterans or right administrators have no backing to tell the truth. It will get worse before (if) it gets better.
Many colleges are going to a preponderance of group work. That way people who actually know very little can get a passing, even excellent, grade since everyone in the group gets the same grade. This is even happening in medical and law schools.
Woke Universities - bump for later....
When are parents going to cease sending their precious offspring to these rabid indoctrination camps that cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars?
MIT gave us the Internet and ObamaCARE/RomneyCARE.
Destroyed American medicine
balanced by the means
to unite EVERYONE to bring down the DS.
Are we willing to sacrifice science for ideology?
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