“Our institution was founded on and perpetuates various injustices...”
Cornell Administration’s DEI Statement on website August 2022
According to the University bylaws, the Cornell University Board of Trustees is vested with "supreme control" over the entire university and has a duty to act in the best interest of the institution. Unfortunately, the University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) values and practices promote an exclusionary, activist political agenda, and is symptomatic of the oppressive campus culture that elevates group over individual identity; victimhood over merit; and free speech for protected groups over free speech for all.
Despite the good intentions to focus on diversity and inclusion, CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria states these practices have turned universities like Cornell into places of “political and social engineering and not academic merit”. Drawing on campus policy studies from Yale University and University of Chicago, Cornell Free Speech Alliance (CFSA) has thoughtfully submitted to the Trustees a straightforward set of Policy Recommendations aimed at improving the very serious challenges to Open Inquiry, Free Expression, Academic Freedom, and Viewpoint Diversity now prevailing on campus. These CFSA Policy Recommendations have been endorsed by more than 10 of the nation’s leading free speech organizations.
The Trustees’ implementation of these Policy Recommendations at Cornell University will educate students to recognize the difference between speech and violence; to differentiate between juvenile “expressions” of behavior versus the reasoned discourse expected from a student at a world class university; to understand that listening to ideas is a necessary predicate to properly considering them. Cornell students must learn that listening alone does not equal endorsement; and that some dearly held beliefs may be opinions assigned to them by the environment in which they grew up and which they have never seen competently challenged. In other words, through listening to reasoned challenge they will become wiser and more thoughtful adults.
Strengthening the skills of speaking, listening, and engaging new or uncomfortable ideas will enable students to navigate the current environment and close the gap between Cornell’s free speech commitment and its campus reality. These skills must be learned and honed. For many students, their time at Cornell is their first, best, and potentially last opportunity to do so.
As a loyal alumnus and supporter of CFSA, I respectfully request that the Cornell Board of Trustees meet with CFSA leaders to discuss how the CFSA Policy Recommendations can strengthen Open Inquiry and Free Expression on campus. I urge the Trustees to take this step as an essential part of their responsibilities to Cornell University and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
Anonymous
Cornell Alumnus

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