More Academics Fired
The list of academics who have been cancelled or who have fallen foul of authority continues to grow. In past articles we have listed scores. Some more recent cases are:
The physicist Steve Hsu of Michigan State has had his administrative position terminated though not his tenure. The campaign against him was led apparently by a Student union activist. His crime: he supported a research project on intelligence. He is not the only one.
Noah Carl is a British sociologist who was investigated and subsequently dismissed from his position as a Toby Jackman Newton Trust Research Fellow at St Edmund’s College, Cambridge after a letter signed by several hundred academics repudiated his research and public stance on race and intelligence and alleged that Carl’s work was based on pseudoscience and discredited race sciences. But they did not have expertise in these areas. (For the most part, they had qualifications in fields like anthropology, gender studies and critical race studies).
An editorial published by Quillette denounced the letter for undermining academic freedom and for making accusations without evidence. The editorial was endorsed by notable academics including Jonathan Haidt, Cass Sunstein, and Peter Singer. Sunstein later compared Carl’s treatment to a stoning.
A Quillette editorial denounced the letter as an attack on academic freedom
Dr. Tomas Hudlicky, a professor of chemistry at Brock University Canada has been publicly humiliated for comments critical of the new sacred doctrines on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
In an article in the Canadian National Post, Jordan Peterson last month revealed that: A highly cited professor of physics, who I cannot name, at a university I cannot name either (suffice it to say that the former has garnered 100+ publications and 7000+ citations in a highly technical field) had his standard Canadian Federal grant application rejected because he had failed to sufficiently detail his plans to ensure diversity, inclusivity and equity (DIE) practices while conducting his scientific inquiry.
Bo Winegard and the Great Awokening
Another academic who has been fired is Bo Winegard. He helped to popularise the term “woke” with a widely read article entitled “The Preachers of the Great Awokening” in which he compared it to a new form of religious fundamentalism. How right he was. He was a marked man since then.
Winegard writes: Sinners are threatened not by an angry God but by a righteous mob. The impenitent among them are condemned to be outcasts, while the contrite, if they properly mortify themselves and pledge everlasting fealty to the faith, can secure enough lost status to rejoin society, perhaps forever marked by a scarlet epithet. Racist. Sexist. Ableist. This is the religion of Wokeness, and this is the era of the Great Awokening.
Those who challenge this quasi religion are not debated with. Instead they are cast out of polite society like heretics.
Winegard lists the chief dogmas of Wokeness as:
- All demographic groups are roughly biologically the same.
- Bigotry is pervasive.
- Almost all disparities among demographic groups are caused by bigotry.
- If we all work really hard, we can create a more just, multicultural society.
- Diversity is almost always a good thing.
More broadly, Woke dogmas lead to a sacred narrative about the nobility of perceived victims’ groups (e.g., blacks, women, Muslims, gays, transexuals, et cetera). Members of these groups are to be considered the innocent victims of an oppressive and iniquitous patriarchy.
Eindhoven Guilty of Discrimination
Amidst all the craziness it is really refreshing to come across a common-sense decision taken by a Dutch human rights institute when it issued a judgment on Eindhoven University in early July that it discriminated against men.
Eindhoven said more than a year ago that for 18 months, all academic jobs would be open to female candidates only. If a vacancy fails to attract suitable candidates within six months, it is opened up to men.
Eindhoven’s decision contravenes the law on equal treatment, the Dutch human rights council says
The university was taken to the human rights council by anti-discrimination bureau Radar which said it had received over 50 complaints.
Eindhoven University’s decision contravenes the law on equal treatment, the Dutch human rights council College voor de Rechten van de Mens said. In addition, the council said the university had failed to make it clear why the policy should apply to all academic functions, because women are not disadvantaged equally in every department.
Many people will remember that when Mary Mitchell O’Connor announced that she was setting aside 50 professorships for women only she cited Eindhoven as both a model and a justification for her initiative. MVI has written to IHREC the Irish counterpart and sought its opinion on this matter. So far nothing has been heard.