OPINION: Stanford University’s fresh President Jonathan Levin took an essential step in promoting open and free conversation on school
Recently, Stanford University President Jonathan Levin spoke alongside canceled COVID contrarians, earning them a success for real open discussion on college campuses.
The panel actually promoted debate by presenting the contrarians alongside President Levin ( pictured ), signaling that despite his objections, he did not want them to be canceled for their expressions.
This is more important than meaningless “institutional independence” claims made by organizations like Syracuse University, which quickly vanished when the institution posted in support of LGBT” Pride” quarter.
The Freeman Spogli Institute hosted the board last Friday with Dr. Scott Atlas and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
In 2020, the Stanford University university senate voted against Dr. Atlas because it supports widespread lockdowns and other important COVID regulations. The Stanford University faculty senate is also opposed to intellectual freedom.
Other experts on the board, including Johns Hopkins University Professor Marty Makary and University of California San Francisco Professor Monica Gandhi, who legitimately opposed common lockdowns, were also present. Both are health specialists.
” We have numerous issues now at Stanford, and on other schools, where opinions are divided, and in some cases, like this one, where emotions are raw”, Levin said at the occasion, as reported by The Stanford Daily. ” But I believe we need to make every effort to find people who disagree, perhaps sharply, in discourse with one another”.
He noted listeners with different perspectives ended up never attending, which he called “disappointing”.
What could be a powerful term as president is a great start to the occasion.
Levin may go even further by halting school attempts to stifle speech. For instance, he ought to stop the continuous effort to encircle university analysis that is funded by oil and gas companies.
He may also arrange additional occasions for professors who have canceled their discussions of gender philosophy, abortion, and DEI.
In any case, he does n’t have to say whether he agrees or disagrees with any particular viewpoint; instead, he wants to encourage discussion and allow faculty and students to hear from a variety of viewpoints.
This is, after all, apparently the purpose of a secular school.
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Photo: Stanford University/YouTube
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