Michael Poliakoff and Steven McGuire.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is launching a Campus Freedom Initiative. The Cornell Review conducted this interview to learn more about the campaign at Cornell.
Dr. Poliakoff joined ACTA’s staff in March 2010 as the Vice President of Policy, and became ACTA’s third president on July 1, 2016. He previously served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and research at the University of Colorado and in senior roles at the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Council on Teacher Quality, the American Academy for Liberal Education, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
As the Paul & Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom, Dr. McGuire writes, podcasts, and speaks on free speech and academic freedom in the context of contemporary campus issues. He also assists with related ACTA rapid responses, reports, and initiatives. Prior to joining ACTA, Dr. McGuire was director of the Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good and associate teaching professor in the Augustine and Culture Seminar Program at Villanova University.
Q: Cornell Review: Why did you select Cornell as one of the first three schools for your initiative?
A: Michael Poliakoff: We chose Cornell because by all appearances it is in trouble but can still make the course correction it urgently needs. It’s clear that Cornell suffers from a stifling monoculture. Now it’s tilting toward requiring faculty, staff, and students to be trained in prescribed orthodoxies. These developments violate Cornell’s own values, which include commitments to open inquiry and free expression, and they’re harming the education the school provides to its students. Cornell is increasingly training its students to think in an approved manner instead of educating them to think for themselves.
At the same time, there is clear evidence of concern and pushback among faculty, students, and alumni (including the creation of the Cornell Free Speech Alliance). We believe we can help to galvanize support for policy changes and a cultural shift that will improve the conditions for free expression and intellectual diversity on campus.
Q: Cornell Review: Cornell operates a Cooperative Extension program in every county of New York State. Is your initiative relevant to Cornell Cooperative Extension as well as the main campus?
A: Steven McGuire: It certainly is relevant to the Cooperative Extension programs, insofar as they appear to also be subject to the same pressures one finds on the main campus.
Q: Cornell Review: How can Cornell students get more involved in your initiative?
A: Steven McGuire: Cornell students who are interested in getting more involved should contact us (info@goacta.org). We would be happy to work with them to organize student support for this initiative and discuss ways they can push for better conditions for free expression on campus. We also know faculty and alumni who would love to work with them on these issues.
Students are an important voice on campus, and we believe they can help Cornell to meet some of the standards in ACTA’s Gold Standard for Free Expression. For instance, they could ask the administration to offer significant programming on the importance of free expression during new student orientation. As another example, they could ask the administration to support debates on campus that would demonstrate the value of free expression, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse. Do these seem like difficult or unreasonable requests? I can tell you they are not.
Of course, students can also go to our website (Help build a culture of free expression at Cornell! – American Council of Trustees and Alumni (goacta.org)) and sign the petition, as well as spread the word to others, asking them to do the same.
Q: Cornell Review: Are you optimistic about improving Cornell’s campus climate?
A: Michael Poliakoff: We wouldn’t be putting our hearts and souls into this campaign if we didn’t think we can make a real difference. Our new ACTA Gold Standard for Free Expression offers a 20-point blueprint for improving the climate for free expression and intellectual diversity on campus. Cornell could easily reach some of the standards we suggest. If students, staff, faculty, alumni, and others stand up and make it known that they want a free and intellectually diverse campus, we believe the administration will respond. We won’t stop in our efforts until we find a campus in which students would never think of “canceling” or “disinviting” a speaker: they would relish the opportunity to encounter new ideas, to have their own beliefs challenged.
Of course, one of the problems we face on college campuses, including Cornell’s, is a pervasive atmosphere of self-censorship. Students, faculty, and staff who want more intellectual diversity and better conditions for free expression need to know they’re not alone – that they have friends on-campus who agree with them, as well as allies off-campus like ACTA. We believe this initiative can help Cornellians to see that. As I said, Cornellians who want to see changes should sign our petition and reach out to us, so that we can work together to help Cornell become a better place for free expression and diversity of thought.
Q: Cornell Review: Are you planning on tabling at Cornell or holding any other events to rally support for your movement?
A: Steven McGuire: We have not scheduled anything yet, but we do intend to come to campus to meet with Cornellians and present on the importance of free expression and intellectual diversity. We’d be happy to partner with student organizations or others on campus to organize a visit, so that we can talk about the problems at Cornell and discuss solutions.
Q: Cornell Review: Could you speak a bit to specific concerns that you have about Cornell’s campus?
A: Steven McGuire: Our concern is that Cornell has developed a monoculture in which diverse perspectives and heterodox ideas are unwelcome and those who espouse them are treated with unacceptable hostility. As an example, in 2019, Jannique Stewart was disinvited because of her views on sexuality and marriage. In another example, William Jacobson faced blowback for expressing unpopular views about the history and leadership of the Black Lives Matter movement. We are especially concerned about the recent trend to push DEI initiatives without room for debate or alternative approaches. Of course, racism is evil, and members of the Cornell community should address it, but it’s important to maintain the university as a place that supports a variety of approaches to combating racism and finding ways to cultivate not only diversity and inclusion of race, ethnicity, and gender, but also diversity of the heart and the intellect.
While an effort to require training to address white supremacy and colonialism was narrowly defeated in the faculty senate last year, there are now efforts in each college to advance similar training. In addition, staff are already required to undergo DEI training. And applicants for faculty positions at Cornell are required to submit diversity statements, which amount to political litmus tests. All of this has a chilling effect on campus and undermines free and robust debate concerning urgent social and political issues. A university should not pressure its community to conform to particular views and practices. Rather, it should cultivate a space in which a variety of views are welcome and community members feel free to debate one another without fear that they will be canceled or ostracized.
Q: Cornell Review: Any additional comment you’d like Cornellians to know?
A: Michael Poliakoff: Free expression should not be seen as conflicting with social justice or diversity and inclusion. The late John Lewis, for example, said, “Without freedom of speech and the right to dissent, the civil rights movement would have been a bird without wings.”
Moreover, free expression and intellectual diversity are hallmarks of a university, which should provide a forum for students and faculty to consider new and unorthodox ideas in the pursuit of truth. To restrict the free exchange of ideas is to stifle social and scientific progress. Cornell would betray its birthright if it continues to erode its commitment to unfettered inquiry, debate, and discussion.
Correction: an earlier version misstated ACTA’s name.
