Interesting discussion. A couple of points.
1. The assertions made in the earlier comments can not be further from the truth. That open letter is not from Stanford University and it does not have the university's backing. On the contrary, its authors got reprimanded for making it appear like it has.
Provost Persis Drell and Faculty Senate Chair Judith Goldstein sent an email to Stanford faculty the following week on Sept. 14, reprimanding authors of the open letter:
“In the last week, we saw an inappropriate use of our official academic council email list,” they wrote. “A letter from some medical school faculty was written and signed consistent with the freedom of faculty to voice their opinions. However, the letter was distributed to all members of the academic council using a University email list and this was not consistent with policy.”
2. The letter itself is curiously devoid of any actual substance. It purports to "call attention to the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr. Scott Atlas", but somehow fails to mention a single specific falsehood or misrepresentation fostered by Dr. Atlas. This author provides a detailed treatment of that remarkable piece ofshit writing:
For a bunch of doctors, they write amazingly well. They artfully slime a colleague and leave a trail of accusation in the air without actually textually making disprovable statements.
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To her credit, our Provost responded that the signatory's use of an internal list-serv to distribute a political email is completely inappropriate. By doing so, she recognizes that this is what it is, a political email, not an "ethical obligation."
Thank you for posting the link to the letter, quite an educational exercise.
1. The assertions made in the earlier comments can not be further from the truth. That open letter is not from Stanford University and it does not have the university's backing. On the contrary, its authors got reprimanded for making it appear like it has.
Provost Persis Drell and Faculty Senate Chair Judith Goldstein sent an email to Stanford faculty the following week on Sept. 14, reprimanding authors of the open letter:
“In the last week, we saw an inappropriate use of our official academic council email list,” they wrote. “A letter from some medical school faculty was written and signed consistent with the freedom of faculty to voice their opinions. However, the letter was distributed to all members of the academic council using a University email list and this was not consistent with policy.”
Faculty Senate debates University criticism of open letter about Scott Atlas, votes to approve changes to Title IX procedures
Members of the Faculty Senate expressed disappointment in the University’s pushback against open letter criticizing White House advisor and Hoover Institution senior fellow Scott Atlas, as well as federally mandated changes to Title IX procedures, which disincentivize the reporting of sexual...
www.stanforddaily.com
2. The letter itself is curiously devoid of any actual substance. It purports to "call attention to the falsehoods and misrepresentations of science recently fostered by Dr. Scott Atlas", but somehow fails to mention a single specific falsehood or misrepresentation fostered by Dr. Atlas. This author provides a detailed treatment of that remarkable piece of
Atlas agonistes
johnhcochrane.blogspot.com
For a bunch of doctors, they write amazingly well. They artfully slime a colleague and leave a trail of accusation in the air without actually textually making disprovable statements.
****
To her credit, our Provost responded that the signatory's use of an internal list-serv to distribute a political email is completely inappropriate. By doing so, she recognizes that this is what it is, a political email, not an "ethical obligation."
Thank you for posting the link to the letter, quite an educational exercise.