Dr. Dorian Schuyler Abbot has an undergraduate degree in physics (2004, Harvard) and a PhD in applied math (2008, Harvard). He came to the University of Chicago as a Chamberlin Fellow in 2009 and stayed on as a faculty member in 2011. His Statement of Values is as follows:
“I practice fair admissions: I select students and postdocs on the basis of scientific ability and promise, and I do not discriminate against any applicant based on anything else. I encourage freedom of expression and the creative exploration of ideas in my group.”
Dr. Abbot was slated to deliver the John Carlson Lecture at MIT. This was a prestigious honor for Dr. Abbot and was billed by MIT as an annual lecture meant to communicate “exciting new results in climate science to the general public.” But MIT retracted his invitation, not because of the content of his planned lecture, but because activists and MIT academics took issue with Abbot's past comments arguing academic evaluations should be based on merit, not on race or ethnic identity.
The Woke Mob on Twitter was upset that Abbot, and his colleague, Ivan Marinovic, had criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives by universities and some employers in an August opinion piece for Newsweek titled “The Diversity Problem on Campus.” But the Woke Mob would lose to Princeton. Princeton professor Robert P. George would invite Dr. Abbot to make his presentation via Zoom as part of Princeton’s James Madison Program on the same day that the MIT presentation had been planned then cancelled under pressure from the Woke Mob. Well done, Professor George. And Dr. Abbot would show considerable class in his rebuke of the Twitter-Land shallow folk.
There is hope for Academia.
As someone who has spent his adult life on university campuses, I agree about the moral confusion caused by the Woke Mob. When Missouri State University president Cliff Smart last year announced a "George Floyd Scholarship," he neglected to even mention retired St. Louis Police Chief David Dorn who served the police force for 38 years -- with distinction -- but was gunned down by thugs as he protected a friend's business during the summer riots of 2020. George Floyd was hardly a role model for anyone, let alone young minority students. Many students attend MSU from the St. Louis area; what message did the "woke" president send to them?
When institutions of higher learning begin making decisions based on such emotionally charged issues as those proposed by the Woke Mob, it places at rick all other decisions such institutions must make to remain viable. It can result in a continual downward slide to academic irrelevance.