Newsletter
July 14, 2025
Doing the ‘Right Thing’ Is Not a Moral Compass
Excerpts (link in the original, boldface added):
“Perhaps Cornell’s sprawling ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) bureaucracy and senior administrators didn’t intend to discriminate. Maybe they genuinely believed they were ‘doing the right thing.’ But history is filled with tragic consequences born from good intentions unmoored from principle. The real danger lies not just in bad people doing harm, but in well-meaning people redefining harm as virtue, and enforcing it as policy.
“At Cornell, this warped sense of righteousness has manifested in what now appears to be a university-wide pattern of discrimination: in hiring, scholarships, student life, and even speech.
“As detailed in a recent federal civil rights complaint, faculty candidates were allegedly eliminated not for lack of merit -- but for lack of the ‘right’ racial or gender identity. Scholarships and opportunities were offered or denied based on identity, not achievement. And those who questioned the fairness of it all were marginalized, silenced, or labeled problematic.
“How did we get here?
“It begins with a dangerous assumption: that individuals or institutions can simply declare what is ‘right’ based on ideological trends, emotional appeal, or political pressure. Who decides what’s right? One might say the law does -- and it does. Federal civil rights laws, for example, prohibit discrimination on the basis of race or sex. But Cornell’s leaders decided that their version of ‘right’ -- wrapped in euphemisms like ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion’ -- should supersede those laws.
“This is not new. We’ve seen this kind of thinking before -- where subjective morality replaces objective principle, intent is elevated above consequence, and slogans obscure reality.
“Diversity became one-dimensional. It stopped meaning diversity of thought, background, or experience, and became solely about visible traits.
“Equity stopped meaning fairness. It became a mandate for engineered outcomes, regardless of effort or merit.
“Inclusion became exclusion. Anyone not conforming to the dominant ideology was treated as suspect, or worse, an oppressor.
“In this worldview, discrimination was no longer discrimination -- it was ‘justice.’ Preferential treatment was no longer unfair -- it was ‘equitable.’ And questioning these practices was no longer reasoned dissent -- it was ‘harmful.’ . . .
“The damage extends beyond individuals.
“Cornell has created segregated dorms, racially themed graduation ceremonies, and anonymous reporting tools to enforce conformity to ever-shifting ideological rules. The campus has become a minefield of suspicion and resentment. Group identity is everything; individual merit is nothing.
“And so, the university now finds itself in the crosshairs. Not of political activists, but of federal law. Outside forces are intervening because Cornell abandoned the internal compass that once guided its mission: the pursuit of truth through open inquiry, fairness, and merit.
“This is a moment of reckoning. Cornell must decide whether to continue down this path of ideologically justified lawbreaking or return to being a university in the truest sense of the word. That will require courage....”
Full op-ed by Cornell alum David Ackerman at Minding the Campus.
See also at our Stanford Concerns webpage specific data regarding Stanford’s administrative staffing as compared with other major colleges and universities, data regarding Stanford’s DEI staffing as compared with other major colleges and universities, and Stanford’s prior and recently revamped program for reporting bias.
See also Cornell President Michael I. Kotlikoff letter dated May 7, 2025 to alumni and others regarding cuts in federal funding and Cornell’s response. See also Cornell's “Statement on America First Policy Institute Complaint” (June 27, 2025) at Cornell website.
See also Guiding Principles (letter dated March 31, 2025 from Stanford's President Jon Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez) and President Levin’s Opening Remarks to the Faculty Senate (April 10, 2025).
Marc Andreessen’s Comments re Higher Education
Excerpts (links in the original, boldface added):
“Influential tech investor and Trump adviser Marc Andreessen recently said universities will ‘pay the price’ for promoting [DEI] . . . according to messages he sent to a group chat with White House officials and technology leaders reviewed by The Washington Post.
“The billionaire’s messages also cited Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, a respected institution at the heart of Silicon Valley that has incubated tech companies such as Google. Andreessen and his wife [Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen] have donated millions of dollars to the school....
“The tech investor is known for making controversial statements, including to his 1.8 million followers on X, and has criticized universities and government agencies in media appearances, but his comments in the private chat went beyond his previous statements....
“‘They declared war on 70% of the country and now they’re going to pay the price,’ Andreessen alleged of universities, without calling out a specific school....
“Andreessen’s message to the group about subjecting the NSF to ‘the bureaucratic death penalty’ alleged that the agency, a major funder of university science and tech labs, backed projects that led to online censorship of American citizens.... The investor added: ‘Raze it to the ground and start over.’ ...”
Full article including screenshots at Washington Post. See also “National Science Foundation Faces Radical Shake-up as Officials Abolish Its 37 Divisions” at Science Advisor (May 8, 2025).
See also previous articles at our Stanford Concerns-2 webpage including: “Stanford Prof. Jay Bhattacharya: The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists and We Fought Back” (September 11, 2023) and “Dr. Bhattacharya's Opening Statement at His Senate Confirmation Hearing to Lead National Institutes of Health -- Five Goals if Confirmed as Head of NIH” (March 5, 2025). Editor's note: Prof. Bhattacharya was confirmed on March 25, 2025 as head of NIH and took office on April 1, 2025.
University of District Columbia Prohibits Panel on Race
Excerpts (link in the original, boldface added):
“[Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism] is proud to announce the latest effort in our civil rights advocacy: filing a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against the University of the District of Columbia....
“In May 2025, the Our America Foundation approached UDC about hosting a debate titled ‘Is the American Dream Alive for Black Americans?’ featuring diverse Black and Hispanic panelists including FAIR’s Executive Director Monica Harris [who herself is Black]. The proposed event was intended to afford UDC students the opportunity to engage with different perspectives on one of America’s most important ongoing conversations.
“UDC’s response was swift and shocking.
“Dr. Monique Gamble, speaking on behalf of the university, rejected the debate outright, explicitly citing the racial identities of the university’s students as justification. In her written response, Dr. Gamble stated that UDC’s students have ‘identities [that] actually do put them at risk in a society that has a known history of criminalizing race, gender, sexuality, immigration and socio-economic status.’ She further claimed that the university would not ‘entertain these realities as debatable.’
“Put simply, a public university funded by taxpayers refused to host a debate about Black Americans’ experiences -- and featuring Black panelists -- because university officials determined that their perspectives were incompatible with the institution’s mission....”
Full news release at FAIR’s website. A more detailed discussion of the issues is here, and a bio for FAIR’s executive director, Monica Harris, is here; and her TEDx talk “The Labels That Divide Us” (15 minutes) is here.
In a Drive to Protect Free Speech, UK Regulator Says University Students Must Face Shocking Ideas
Excerpt (boldface added):
“Students at English universities must prepare to confront ideas they find uncomfortable and shocking, the national regulator for higher education said as it released new guidelines governing free speech on campuses across the country.
“The Office for Students said Thursday [June 19] that freedom of speech and academic freedom are crucial to higher education, so the guidelines are designed to ensure that universities don’t stifle any form of legal speech on their campuses or in their classrooms.
“Students must be allowed to freely share their opinions and be prepared to hear a range of views during their studies, Arif Ahmed, free speech director for the regulator, said in a statement.
“‘This includes things that they may find uncomfortable or shocking,’ he said. ‘By being exposed to a diversity of academic thought, students will develop their analytical and critical thinking skills.’ . . ."
Full article at AP. See also summary of guidance and PDF copy of the full text, effective August 1, 2025.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Is Prepping for Capitol Hill Grilling
Excerpts (links in the original, boldface added):
“[Last week] was supposed to be a tough week for UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons.
“He was scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which wants to examine ‘the underlying factors instigating antisemitic upheaval and hatred on campus.’ ... However, the hearing was postponed. It will be rescheduled for a later date, according to a committee staff member....
“In a talk at the Berkeley City Club [two weeks ago], Lyons addressed the assault on higher education, its impacts on Cal, the balance between free speech and the right for all students to feel safe on campus, and how the UC system is approaching this era, all while it is wondering and waiting if UC will get one of those dreaded ‘Columbia-Harvard letters’ from the administration announcing draconian cuts.
“‘We face very substantial risks,’ said Lyons.
“UC Berkeley has already lost between $30 million and $40 million due to Trump’s cuts to approximately 35 grants, Lyons said. The entire UC system has seen $600 million in grant and research cuts, according to Nathan Brostrom, UC’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. It receives approximately $4 billion in federal funding annually....
[Followed by discussion of past and recent events, administrative and faculty responses, etc.]
“UC Berkeley and the entire UC system face multiple federal investigations, including how the system handled the spring 2024 protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, whether the system discriminates against Jewish employees, the relationship Cal has with a Chinese university and more....
“‘To be honest, and with all due respect, the hearings this committee held on this same subject last year are reminiscent not of a fair trial of any sort, but of the kind of hearings the House Committee on Un-American Activities used to hold,’ [Georgetown Law Prof. David Cole] said in his [May 7] testimony. ‘And I think we can all agree that the HUAC hearings were both a big mistake and a major intrusion on the First Amendment rights of Americans.’ ...”
Full article by Stanford alum Frances Dinkelspiel at Berkeleyside.
See also “UC System Bans Student Governments from Boycotting Israel” at College Fix.
How DEI Policies and Procedures Have Controlled University Hiring
Excerpts (links in the original, boldface added):
“In early 2021, Carma Gorman, an art history professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the designated ‘diversity advocate’ for a faculty search committee, emailed John Yancey, the College of Fine Arts’ associate dean of diversity, seeking approval to proceed with a job search.
“‘I wanted to make sure that the demographics of our pool pass muster,’ Gorman wrote. She noted that 21 percent of applicants were from underrepresented minority groups, with another 28 percent self-identifying as Asian....
“‘Once we’ve sorted everyone into Qualified and Unqualified groups,’ Gorman wrote of the first stage in the search process, the committee would ask an administrator to ‘check the demographic characteristics’ of the initial cut. ‘If it is a diverse enough group to merit moving forward with the search, fantastic!’ But if the pool was deemed insufficiently diverse, the committee would revisit candidates from underrepresented groups who were initially considered unqualified, expand job advertising, or simply ‘cancel the search entirely.’ This step would be repeated for both the shortlist and the finalist slate.
“The practice raises obvious legal red flags -- particularly when it involves canceling searches outright, effectively denying all candidates a fair opportunity based on immutable characteristics. Yet documents I’ve obtained show that more than a dozen universities have adopted some version of this approach....
“If there’s one key lesson here, it’s that the desire for power, not ideology alone, gave rise to the social-justice university. More than likely, power will also prove its undoing.”
Full op-ed at City Journal.
See also “Federal Investigation Launched Over Faculty Hiring Practices at George Mason University” at Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
Other Articles of Interest
MIT Sued Over Alleged Failure to Address Anti-Semitic Harassment (Full article at Campus Reform. PDF copy of the lawsuit, as brought by the Louis D. Brandeis Center, available here).
Cornell’s New President Remains Under Attack (Full article at National Review).
Barnard College Settles Antisemitism Lawsuit with Controversial Campus Policy Changes (Full article at Diverse Issues in Higher Education).
For Grants to Prepare K-12 Teachers, Department of Education Favors Colleges and Universities with Civic Schools (Full article at Inside Higher Ed).
‘Unprepared and Entitled’ College Grads Are Unpopular with Hiring Managers (Full article at College Fix including this link to the survey itself).
Samples of Current Teaching, Research and Other Activities at Stanford
Click on each article for direct access; selections are from Stanford Report and other Stanford websites.
Blood-test Analysis Can Determine the Biological Ages of 11 Separate Organ Systems
What Workers Really Want from Artificial Intelligence
AI Is Reshaping Accounting Jobs by Doing the ‘Boring’ Stuff
Students Build AI-powered Robot Dogs from Scratch
“I don't really understand my own position unless I also understand your opposition to my position even if I still disagree with you.” – Stanford Prof. Andrew Huberman