“Words matter and have consequences.”Įver more fraught arguments over speech and academic freedom on American campuses have moved as a flood tide into the sciences.
“Besides freedom of speech, we have the freedom to pick the speaker who best fits our needs,” said Robert van der Hilst, the head of the department at M.I.T. Abbot’s lecture, to be delivered to professors, graduate students and the public, including some top Black and Latino high school students. The head of its earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences department called off Dr. But his opponents in the sciences argued he represented an “infuriating,” “inappropriate” and oppressive choice. would have made no mention of his views on affirmative action. He said that his planned lecture at M.I.T. Abbot, who is white, has asserted that such programs treat “people as members of a group rather than as individuals, repeating the mistake that made possible the atrocities of the 20th century.” He said that he favored a diverse pool of applicants selected on merit.
Abbot, a professor at the University of Chicago, had created harm by speaking out against aspects of affirmative action and diversity programs. Some faculty members and graduate students argued that Dr. He seemed a natural choice, a scientific star who studies climate change and whether planets in distant solar systems might harbor atmospheres conducive to life. CHICAGO - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology invited the geophysicist Dorian Abbot to give a prestigious public lecture this autumn.