Former trustee calls for Pollack’s resignation

Unlike other Ivy League Universities, Cornell’s donor base has consistently avoided taking their DEI and antisemitism concerns public.  However, on January 23, 2024, Jon Lindseth ‘56 sent an open letter to the Board of Trustees asking for them to consider the issues of DEI and President Martha Pollack’s resignation due to support of DEI.

Lindseth is a Trustee Emeritus and Presidential Counselor best known for his generous support of Cornell Outdoor Education. He is still an actively-involved alumnus and demonstrated his support for COE by scaling the Lindseth climbing wall last summer at the age of 86. He has also endowed the Directorship of COE, and he has generously supported the Cornell Library.

Lindseth’s letter contends that DEI has caused Cornell to “rot” by departing from its merit-based traditions. His letter recommends the following steps:

ITEM 1: Replace the President and the Provost.

ITEM 2: Eliminate DEI staffing and programming. Revert to Open Inquiry, Academic Freedom, Free Expression, and Viewpoint Diversity on campus.

ITEM 3: Adopt and Implement “[Cornell Free Speech Alliance] CFSA Open Inquiry Policy Recommendations To Cornell University” especially the Kalven Report (Political Neutrality) and Chicago Principles (Free Expression).

ITEM 4: Conform to the SCOTUS decision on elimination of Affirmative Action in Admissions and the Schils Report (See CFSA Recommendations) to return Cornell to “merit based” rather than “politically based” or “identity based” hiring and admission preferences.

ITEM 5: Publish a Cornell Policy Statement (similar to that just proposed at Penn) and a new Presidential and Provost Declaration, which Cornell’s new leadership will sign before taking office, that reinstates Open Inquiry, Academic Freedom, Free Expression, and Viewpoint Diversity at Cornell – while turning away from the current “political  activism” priority that now dominates the University.

ITEM 6: Terminate Cornell’s use of its current web-based “Bias Reporting System”.

ITEM 7: Cancel opening of the proposed “Cornell Center for Racial Justice”. There is no racial justice with DEI.

RELATED: Dutch | The Moral Rot of Cornell

The Board of Trustees is meeting this weekend in New York City for one of its four regular meetings. Although the Board’s agenda is set by President Pollack far in advance (in consultation with Board Chair Kraig Kayser), it is possible that the Board will take up Lindseth’s concerns as a last-minute addition to the agenda.

In the meantime, Cornell faces a Department of Education investigation for alleged anti-semitism and/or islamophobia under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and an investigation by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee regarding its response to post-Oct. 7 events.

To date, President Pollack has contended that pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion is not incompatible with free speech. As President Pollack was quoted in a Sun interview:

‘Let’s not call attacks on DEI defenses of free speech — both those things can coexist,’ Pollack said in the interview. ‘I think at universities, both those things must coexist.’

However, it is not clear whether there is agreement on the definitions of DEI and how it is implemented at Cornell. Conservatives believe that “diversity” refers to viewpoint diversity, while far-left advocates often use “diversity” as a code word for race.

The Cornell Free Speech Alliance (CFSA) issued a wide variety of recommendations last summer which failed to gain the unanimous agreement of the dozen other groups they had consulted for recommendations. 

Last September, CFSA publicly demanded a meeting with the Trustee Executive Committee to present the full set of recommendations, but Cornell did not respond. Although Lindseth’s letter refers to the CFSA recommendations, there is no indication that he supports a special audience for the CFSA before the Trustees. Both CFSA’s set of recommendations as well as Lindseth’s demand for Pollack’s removal have been featured in CFSA spam emails to alumni and faculty.

The Sun also asked President Pollack about the CFSA.

Pollack said she finds it ‘incredibly frustrating’ that groups, such as the CFSA, attack diversity, equity and inclusion principles under the guise of defending free speech, and that she will defend DEI as strongly as she defends free expression.

Cornell, meanwhile, has redoubled its support for Pollack. Cornell Media Relations sent the following statements to the Review regarding Lindseth’s letter.

For nearly seven years, I have strongly supported President Pollack, and that support remains strong today. The board is working effectively with the administration to respond to various challenges facing higher education and opportunities to advance the university’s mission.

Kraig H. Kayser, Chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees

We have received the letter, which has been forwarded to the chair of the Cornell University Board of Trustees. Cornell’s trustees are gathering in New York this week as part of a regularly scheduled series of meetings to discuss university affairs. Board meetings are scheduled many years in advance.

Joel M. Malina, Vice President for University Relations

This story has been updated to include Cornell University’s comment on Lindseth’s letter.