The Massachusetts Institute of Technology canceled a lecture by University of Chicago associate professor Dorian Abbot after he was targeted by his colleagues and students for defending freedom of expression on campus and criticizing the school’s equity initiatives.
Abbot, who studies climate change and extra solar planets in the university’s Department of the Geophysical Sciences, according to the school’s website, says he took an interest in politics when he began to notice “an increasing number of issues and viewpoints become impossible to discuss on campus,” he wrote in an op-ed published in the news letter, Common Sense With Bari Weiss.
“In the fall of 2020 I started advocating openly for academic freedom and merit-based evaluations,” he wrote. “I recorded some short YouTube videos in which I argued for the importance of treating each person as an individual worthy of dignity and respect. In an academic context, that means giving everyone a fair and equal opportunity when they apply for a position as well as allowing them to express their opinions openly, even if you disagree with them.”
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A group of graduate students from Abbot’s department co-wrote a letter denouncing him for the views expressed in his videos.
“The contents of Professor Dorian Abbot’s videos threaten the safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups within the department and serve to undermine Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion initiatives driven by the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Coordination Team (EDICT),” the letter said.
The letter went on to criticize Abbot’s research and data-collecting methods for his video presentations.
“In these videos, he uses anecdotal evidence and poor statistics not supported by peer-reviewed literature about diversity. Although his views may not be unique within the department, his videos are a deliberate rejection of opportunities to participate in conversations within the Department of Geophysical Sciences and University of Chicago as a whole, and represent an aggressive act towards the research and teaching communities of which Professor Abbot is a member,” the group’s letter continued.
The letter made several demands of Abbot, including rescinding his position as the department’s Website and Social Media Committee chairman for “using students’ images in his personal video without their permission,” along with several others limiting Abbot’s capacity as a professor.
Abbot wrote an op-ed in August, further defending the freedom of expression, as well as challenging the campus’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiative.
“The underlying premise of DEI is that any statistical difference between group representation on campus and national averages reflects systemic injustice and discrimination by the university itself,” he wrote. “DEI violates the ethical and legal principle of equal treatment. It entails treating people as members of a group rather than as individuals, repeating the mistake that made possible the atrocities of the 20th century.”
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The op-ed prompted backlash from left-wing academics and students on Twitter, resulting in the lecture at MIT being canceled.
Dorian Abbot, ladies and gentlemen, saying the quiet parts out loud. For your next invited theory talk on paleoclimate/habitability/terrestrial exoplanets, consider inviting someone who *doesn’t* hold deeply problematic views on equity in the sciences. https://t.co/9KXiT0AWM0
— Caroline Morley (@AstroCaroline) August 23, 2021
“On September 22, a new Twitter mob, composed of a group of MIT students, postdocs, and recent alumni, demanded that I be uninvited … It worked. And quickly,” Abbot wrote. “On September 30 the department chair at MIT called to tell me that they would be canceling the Carlson lecture this year in order to avoid controversy.”
Princeton has reportedly invited Abbot to give his lecture on their campus the same day his MIT lecture would have been, according to the Common Sense newsletter.
