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.
In addition to his calling for the resignation of Cornell’s president and provost, he urged the school to terminate DEI staff and policies and made many recommendations to “put Cornell back on the path towards academic excellence.”
Mr. Lindseth said he would withhold his general donation “until the university reformulates its approach to education by replacing DEI groupthink with the original noble intent of Cornell.”
Mr. Lindseth’s 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.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Lindseth’s 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.
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, “exhilarating” during a pro-Palestinian rally in Ithaca on Oct. 15. The university had to cancel classes on Nov. 3 due to “extraordinary stress” from a series of divisive events on campus. The incidents followed the arrest of a third-year Cornell student for allegedly threatening to kill Jewish people.
Cornell was one of the four Ivy League schools facing investigation 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.
The school, also under probe by the House Ways and Means Committee, risks losing its tax-exempt status for its “disappointing and lackluster responses” to protect Jewish students on campus after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
According to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free-speech ranking group, Cornell ranked 212 out of 242 with a below-average score.
A week ago, Elon Musk indicated that DEI inherently involves discrimination and is “fundamentally anti-Semitic” 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 the DEI movement, calling it a “root cause” for problems at Harvard.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Cornell University for comment.
