“WOKE” University students were upset by Dorian Abbot’s views on equity and inclusion standards and canceled his talk at MIT. It’s a shame of MIT for canceling Dorian Abbot…

In today’s cultural moment, cowardly college administrators willing to jettison principles of academic freedom, free inquiry, and free speech rather than stand up to Twitter mobs are, unfortunately, commonplace. Even so, some cases stand out as particularly egregious examples.

Professor Dorian Abbot, an associate geophysics professor of the University of Chicago, is also known as an outspoken critic of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts within academia.

Prof. Abbot argues that such initiatives violate “the ethical and legal principles of equal treatment” and treat “people as merely a means to an end.” In short, he believes we ought to base hiring and admission decisions on individual merit, rather than identity group membership.

Not surprisingly, such views are considered blasphemous by various wokester and outrage groups, who last year launched a social media campaign to have his employer cancel him.

Over the weekend, Professor Abbot learned that MIT’s EAPS would no longer be hosting him for his talk. Instead, they wanted to cancel his opportunity because of the things he had said regarding how he grades students’ work.

“I am a professor who just had a prestigious public science lecture at MIT canceled because of an outrage mob on Twitter,” Abbot wrote on Bari Weiss’ Substack newsletter that was published on Tuesday. “‘My crime? Arguing for academic evaluations based on academic merit.”

Progressives have been arguing that the traditional style of grading does not treat all students equally. Instead, it generally promotes the skills of white students while punishing the students of color in the process. Instead of grading everyone the same way, progressives suggest that professors should look toward equality of outcomes or equity when correcting answers on tests and quizzes and while grading papers.

“In a letter from my dean last week, she wrote that ‘respect for academic freedom and the principles of equity upon which it is built are fundamental elements of our community,’” Abbot said about being allowed to speak after all. “Today, the Earth Sciences department at MIT informed me that my lecture had been canceled. The reason? They were worried about a social media mob which formed in response to an outraged article on Campus Reform.”

Professor Abbot has been known for grading papers based on their quality. He, along with other faculty members at the University of Chicago, have argued that grades should be determined by the effort put into work rather than what outcome is produced.

“Given my research on equality of opportunity in education, I naturally believe that academic evaluations and opportunities should be based solely on the quality of the work submitted,” Abbot wrote. “My research has shown that grade gaps are larger for students from disadvantaged backgrounds than their advantaged peers—a result of differences in academic effort rather than ability. But many universities don’t view things this way: they believe that grades should be based on equity, not just academic merit.”

Critics of Professor Abbot suggested that his views “threatened the ‘safety and belonging of all underrepresented groups within the department.’”

These critics demanded that Professor Abbot change the way he runs his classroom. In response, the professor claimed that if he did what the “woke” critics asked him to do, the work he does would “be restricted in a way that would cripple my ability to function as a scientist.”

Source: AWM