Major Donor Calls for Cornell University President’s to Resign for Allegedly Promoting DEI
‘DEI
should never have been allowed to corrupt an institution that earned its
prestige for exemplary academics based on merit,’ Mr. Lindseth said.
By
Aaron Pan
1/27/2024
Updated:1/27/2024
A
major alumnus donor is pushing Cornell University to oust its
president for allegedly promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
initiatives that undermine education quality and academic freedom at the Ivy
League school.
In
a letter dated Jan. 23 to Cornell’s chairman Kraig Kayser and board of
trustees, Jon A. Lindseth, a long-time donor and trustee emeritus, raised
concerns over DEI policies and its “harmful effects” on the school and demanded
Cornell fire president Martha Pollack and provost Michael Kotlikoff.
“Cornell
must abandon its misguided commitment to DEI because it has yielded not
excellence but disgrace,” he said. “Replace the President and the Provost.”
“DEI
should never have been allowed to corrupt an institution that earned its
prestige for exemplary academics based on merit,” Mr. Lindseth said.
In
the letter, Mr. Lindseth said he was concerned about the DEI initiatives that
have infiltrated all aspects of the university, creating a “toxic academic
environment.”
“Today,
the instruction Cornell offers is in DEI groupthink applied to every field of
study. The result is a moral decay, some call it ‘rot,’ that falls in line with
prevailing ideology and dishonors basic principles of justice and free speech,”
he noted.
Mr.
Lindseth listed multiple instances at Cornell that call DEI policies into
question, such as allegedly race-based hiring rather than academic merit,
rejecting qualified faculty candidates for not meeting DEI requirements, and
punishing faculty members “for expressing minority opinions on national events
and policy matters,” among others. He also accused the school of fostering “a
cancel culture on campus where bullying, intolerance, and petulant behavior
rule rather than academic rigor and honest debate.”
“A
new campus ‘bias reporting system’ fosters a hostile Orwellian environment
among neighbors, classmates, and colleagues reporting on one another. The
elimination of grades and SATs has created a system in which equal outcomes
rather than proven merit has become the objective,” Mr. Lindseth said. ”This is
disastrous for a research university that is built upon academic achievement
and aims to educate and train some of our country’s leading scientists,
architects, and engineers.”
Poor
Leadership
He
also pointed out that Cornell’s DEI policies are being promoted by its new
“Center For Racial Justice and Equitable Outcomes.”
Mr.
Lindseth blamed Cornell’s poor leadership for allowing DEI to continue to hurt
his alma mater, adding that many alumni share the same opinion with him.
Connecting
the Dots:
Henry Louis
Gates Jr. was a professor at Cornell University and an
honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for
the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Andrew H. Tisch is
a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and a
trustee at Cornell University.
Abby Joseph Cohen was
a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and is a
trustee emeritus at Cornell University.
Resources:
Past Research
Who
Really Controls Our Universities? (Connecting the Dots: Soros Funded Think
Tanks) (Past Research on Cornell University)
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 24, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment