{"id":1453764,"date":"2024-01-28T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T03:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1453764"},"modified":"2024-01-28T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T03:30:00","slug":"major-donor-calls-for-cornell-university-president-to-resign-for-allegedly-promoting-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/major-donor-calls-for-cornell-university-president-to-resign-for-allegedly-promoting-dei\/1453764\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Donor Calls For Cornell University President To Resign For Allegedly Promoting DEI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major Donor Calls For Cornell University President To Resign For Allegedly Promoting DEI<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Aaron Pan via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

A major alumnus donor is pushing Cornell University to oust its president for allegedly promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives<\/strong> that undermine education quality and academic freedom at the Ivy League school.<\/p>\n

A woman walks by a Cornell University sign on the Ivy League school’s campus in Ithaca, N.Y., on Jan. 14, 2022. (Ted Shaffrey \/AP Photo)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> dated Jan. 23 to Cornell\u2019s chairman Kraig Kayser and board of trustees, Jon A. Lindseth<\/strong>, a long-time donor and trustee emeritus, raised concerns over DEI policies and its \u201charmful effects\u201d on the school and demanded Cornell fire president Martha Pollack and provost Michael Kotlikoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cCornell must abandon its misguided commitment to DEI because it has yielded not excellence but disgrace<\/strong>,\u201d he said. \u201cReplace the President and the Provost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDEI should never have been allowed to corrupt an institution that earned its prestige for exemplary academics based on merit,\u201d Mr. Lindseth said.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Mr. Lindseth said he was concerned about the DEI initiatives that have infiltrated all aspects of the university, creating a \u201ctoxic academic environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the instruction Cornell offers is in DEI groupthink applied to every field of study.<\/strong> The result is a moral decay, some call it \u2018rot,\u2019 that falls in line with prevailing ideology and dishonors basic principles of justice and free speech,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cfor expressing minority opinions on national events and policy matters,\u201d among others. He also accused the school of fostering \u201ca cancel culture on campus where bullying, intolerance, and petulant behavior rule rather than academic rigor and honest debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA new campus \u2018bias reporting system\u2019 fosters a hostile Orwellian environment among neighbors, classmates, and colleagues reporting on one another.<\/strong> The elimination of grades and SATs has created a system in which equal outcomes rather than proven merit has become the objective,\u201d Mr. Lindseth said. \u201dThis is disastrous for a research university that is built upon academic achievement and aims to educate and train some of our country\u2019s leading scientists, architects, and engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poor Leadership<\/h2>\n

He also pointed out that Cornell\u2019s DEI policies are being promoted by its new \u201cCenter For Racial Justice and Equitable Outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Lindseth blamed Cornell\u2019s poor leadership for allowing DEI to continue to hurt his alma mater, adding that many alumni share the same opinion with him.<\/p>\n

In addition to his calling for the resignation of Cornell\u2019s president and provost, he urged the school to terminate DEI staff and policies and made many recommendations to \u201cput Cornell back on the path towards academic excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Lindseth said he would withhold his general donation \u201cuntil the university reformulates its approach to education <\/strong>by replacing DEI groupthink with the original noble intent of Cornell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Lindseth\u2019s letter comes after presidents of two Ivy League schools, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, stepped down following their controversial congressional hearings over anti-Semitism on campus.<\/p>\n

According to the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Mr. Lindseth\u2019s move was supported by the Cornell Free Speech Alliance, a free speech advocacy group that was created two years ago. Some wealthy alumni members also want Ms. Pollack ousted.<\/p>\n

Russell Rickford, a history professor at Cornell, sparked controversy when he called the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, killing 1,200 people, \u201cexhilarating\u201d during a pro-Palestinian rally in Ithaca on Oct. 15. The university had to cancel<\/a> classes on Nov. 3 due to \u201cextraordinary stress\u201d from a series of divisive events on campus<\/a><\/strong>. The incidents followed the arrest of a third-year Cornell student for allegedly threatening to kill Jewish people.<\/p>\n

Cornell was one of the four Ivy League schools facing investigation<\/a> by the U.S. Department of Education in mid-November following allegations of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

The school, also under probe<\/a> by the House Ways and Means Committee, risks losing its tax-exempt status for its \u201cdisappointing and lackluster responses\u201d to protect Jewish students on campus after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech ranking group, Cornell ranked<\/a> 212 out of 242 with a below-average score.<\/p>\n

A week ago, Elon Musk indicated<\/a> that DEI inherently involves discrimination and is \u201cfundamentally anti-Semitic\u201d amid the growing anti-Semitism in major Western cities and on college campuses. Earlier, hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman, who recently pushed to oust the Harvard president, also criticized<\/a> the DEI movement, calling it a \u201croot cause\u201d for problems at Harvard.<\/p>\n

The Epoch Times has reached out to Cornell University for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 01\/28\/2024 – 17:30<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bRead More<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major Donor Calls For Cornell University President To Resign For Allegedly Promoting DEI Authored by Aaron Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A major…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-66bO","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1453764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1453764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1453764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1453764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}