A Cornell University professor criticized the school for creating a “free speech committee” that he says is packed with wise-cracking academics.
Randy Wayne, an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences, fears the new task force will be ‘hijacked’ by the ‘diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy that stifles free expression.’
Cornell President Martha Pollack recently announced that the theme for the 2023-24 academic year will focus on free speech and created the Free Speech Steering Committee to that end.
Wayne said he was initially delighted by the news, but his enthusiasm evaporated when he read the names of the committee members, “none of whom have stood up for free speech at Cornell.”
Writing in an op-ed for campus news site The Fix, the professor said that since the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Pollack has promoted the “illiberal DEI philosophy at Cornell,” having previously defended staff cancel culture. .
Randy Wayne (pictured), an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences, fears the new task force will be ‘hijacked’ by the ‘diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy that stifles free expression’
Cornell President Martha Pollack pictured with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Costing more than $80,000 per year, Cornell is one of several top Ivy League schools, including Harvard and Yale, that offer DEI teaching.
Universities believe that students should be educated about how to avoid being racist or biased, even in ways they may not realize, known as “unconscious bias.”
Marxist ideology is not simply confined to campuses, but is now well known to workers from Wall Street to Walmart, whose bosses demand the “inclusion” courses.
High school kids are even being pushed into teaching. In a Manhattan preparation of $54,000 per year, the staff demanded that the school hire a full-time employee whose “entire function is to support black students who file complaints.”
Wayne lashed out at several members of Cornell’s new committee who he said were beholden to mainstream awakening ideology.
He named fellow GS Hans, a law professor, whose faculty bio says his research has a “particular focus on social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Then there’s Vice President of University Relations Joel Malina, another committee member, who Wayne said was “an impediment” to the reinstatement of a bust of Lincoln in the school library that was removed last year after a complaint.
He said member Eve De Rosa, the faculty dean who said she was interested in bringing “more diversity” to the school, ignored all of his emails “questioning the ill effects of mandated critical race theory.”
Wayne said he had written to all committee members on April 19 requesting copies of their published work on free speech. It’s almost mid-May. None of them have responded,’ he said.
In a poignant conclusion, the biology professor said: “In 2017, the American Council of Trustees and Alumni awarded President Pollack the Heroes of Intellectual Freedom Award for being an outspoken supporter of free speech and for urging teachers to take more intellectual risks and not worry about being reprimanded.
“However, since the murder of George Floyd, things have changed and Pollack has promoted the anti-liberal DEI philosophy at Cornell.
‘The American Council for Trustees has noted that the university is fighting to protect free speech and intellectual diversity on campus, ranking 154 out of 203 universities in FIRE’s free speech rankings of universities.’
Cornell University, founded in 1865, is located in Ithaca, New York, on the southern shores of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region. The school has an annual budget of $5bn
Cornell has been contacted for comment.
It comes after DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that Cornell was offering a DEI online certificate that costs $3,699.
It includes courses on ‘countering unconscious bias’ and ‘fostering an inclusive climate’.
The material says: ‘Despite decades of legal and social reforms aimed at reducing discrimination in the workplace, inequality remains a major problem in all societies and in most workplaces.’
