An Alum’s Lament: Free Inquiry on Campus is in Jeopardy
New York Daily News | Evan D. Morris
MIT alum and Yale professor explains why he will donate his 40th reunion class gift to Princeton’s James Madison Program instead of his alma mater, MIT.
“Alumni possess wisdom and perspective that current students do not yet possess. They also have money that current students don’t have, money that can be used to get the attention of university leaders. Sometimes alumni can make the greatest contribution to their alma maters by not contributing. For me, four decades after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this is one of those times.”
He goes on to describe the issue at stake and why it should be of concern to alumni everywhere.
“My alma mater has, indeed, gone off the rails on a fundamental issue. It is the issue dearest to me, as a career academic: The preservation of free and civil speech and debate in the academy…”
“What is happening at UB, Yale, MIT and many other campuses is beyond regrettable. It degrades the honor and the value of a university education…If MIT becomes better known as a training ground for small-minded cancelers than engineers and scientists, the value of my degree will plummet. All alumni everywhere should be concerned about what happens at their alma maters, what impact it might have on education and on the ongoing value of their degrees…”
“I cannot support an institution that knowingly compromises on free and civil debate in the academy. Once this principle, now under threat at institutions across the country, is sacrificed, universities become nothing but collections of politically correct partisan hacks with advanced degrees.”
