Cancellings
See also Nondisclosure Clauses.
- "THE NEW PURITANS", Atlantic (2021) by Ann Applebaum is a good survey with lots of specifics about cancellings and the various effects on its victims.
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Indiana
- 2.1 Donnelly, Harold (Purdue Math, 2023)
- 2.2 John Kluge (Indiana schoolteacher)
- 2.3 Zhihao Kong (Purdue student, Chinese government harassment)
- 2.4 McPhail, Mark (Indiana U.--Northwest, Gary, 2022)
- 2.5 Purdue students
- 2.6 Rasmusen, Eric (Indiana Bus. econ, 2003, 2019)
- 2.7 Sanders, Steve (Indiana Law, 2021)
- 2.8 Moore, Julie (Taylor, Writing, 2023)
- 2.9 Spiegel, James (Taylor philosophy)
- 3 Individual's Pages
- 4 How to Resist
- 5 Miscellaneous
- 6 Girondins
- 7 Commentary on Cancellings Generally
- 8 Dorian Abbot (MIT, 2021)
- 9
- 10 Babak Babakinejad(MIT, Media Lab, 2019)
- 11 Boudreau (Central Michigan, 2021)
- 12 Sara Braasch (Leftwing Yale Graduate Student who called the police when she found a strange black woman sleeping outside her dorm room, 2018)
- 13
- 14 Amy Chua (Yale Law). See the Amy Chua page.
- 15 Trent Colbert: The Trap House Party (Yale Law). See the Trent Colbert page.
- 16 Jed DeVaro ( Cal State-East Bay econ)
- 17 Roland Fryer (Harvard econ, 2019)
- 18 Scott Gerber (Law, Ohio Northern, 2023)
- 19 University of Iowa
- 20 Timothy Jackson, North Texas, Musicology. See the Timothy Jackson page.
- 21
- 22 Katz, Joshua (Princeton Classics, 2022)
- 23 Kilborn, Jason
- 24 Chad KIMBALL (Broadway actor, 2021)
- 25 Brian KLATTMAN (Lehigh, 2021)
- 26 Diane Klein (LaVerne, Chapman)
- 27 Gordon Klein, UCLA, Anderson School, Accounting (2020). See the Gordon Klein page.
- 28
- 29 Walter Lewin (MIT)
- 30 Jamie Lund (St. Mary's Law) (2013)
- 31
- 32 John MacAdams (Marquette, 2018)
- 33 Meriwether (Ohio, gender pronouns)
- 34 Morris, Evan (2022)
- 35 Richard Paxton (Pacific U., 2021, fired)
- 36 Pesta, Bryan (Cleveland State Management, 2022)
- 37 Joseph Petry (Illinois)
- 38 Stephen Porter (NC State, 2021)
- 39 Judge Pryor (2021)
- 40
- 41 J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law, 2020). See the J. Mark Ramseyer page.
- 42
- 43 Schulz, Gregory (Concordia-Wisconsin, 2022)
- 44 Steven Shaviro (Wayne State English)
- 45 Shaw, Jodi (Smith librarian)
- 46 SKIDMORE, Mark (Michigan State, economist, 2023)
- 47 Stock, Kathleen (Sussex, resigned under fire, 2021)
- 48
- 49 Harald UHLIG (Chicago Econ, 2020)
- 50
- 51 Allyn Walker (Old Dominion, 2021)
- 52 Amy Wax (Penn Law)
- 53
- 54 Zimmerman, James (Nashville clarinet, 2021)
- 55
Introduction
These actually aren't all cancellings. I use this to keep track of the various people persecuted by university administrators,for various reasons. A cancelling proper is where the wokefolk on Twitter, etc. mob someone and try to ruin their reputation.
- Spiked-online 2023 article on English academics persecuted by transtrash.
Indiana
I live in Indiana and I am Chair of Committee A (Academic Freedom) of the Indiana Conference of the American Association of University Professors (the AAUP), so it is convenient for me to list Indiana separately.
Donnelly, Harold (Purdue Math, 2023)
Not a political case. The Purdue Math head reduced this tenured professor's pay by 100% by fiat with claims his teaching was poor. 80% of the department's full professors voted No Confidence in her.
- "‘A festering wound’: After lowering professor’s pay to $0, math dept. head loses confidence vote," MARCO LUNA ( Apr 2, 2023)
- Princeton narrative of events at Purdue.
- American Math Society letter and Purdue reply.
- Marginal Revolution blog post by Tyler Cowen. Note how reflexively pro-Administration the comments are. Tenure really is needed, or the public will call for professors to be fired for low student ratings.
John Kluge (Indiana schoolteacher)
I plan to set up a special John Kluge page, but have not done so yet.
- Kluge's En Banc Petition to the 7th Circuit, May 2023.
- New York Post 2023 article.
- Some other teachers also objected, but weren't willing to be fired and backed down.
- The Alliance Defending Freedom is helping Kluge.
Zhihao Kong (Purdue student, Chinese government harassment)
- "even-on-us-campuses-china-cracks-down-on-students-who-speak-out," Pro Publica, Sebastian Rotella (Nov. 2021).
McPhail, Mark (Indiana U.--Northwest, Gary, 2022)
McPhail, Mark has his own page.
Purdue students
- Purdue brings criminal vandalism charges against students for putting up posters criticizing an administrator for going soft on rape.
Rasmusen, Eric (Indiana Bus. econ, 2003, 2019)
- "Lessons for the Cancelled," Eric Rasmusen, Heterodox Stem Substack (2023).
Sanders, Steve (Indiana Law, 2021)
- FIRE writeup of the situation, around Dec. 15.
Moore, Julie (Taylor, Writing, 2023)
Julie Moore was not cancelled, but she was fired improperly. After 6 or so years of routine renewals of her one-year untenured contract, she was suddenly told she would not be renewed but could get 6 weeks severance pay if she signed a nondisparagement agreement.
- A good summary, by Beth Barr at her substack (May 10, 2023).
- Julielmoore.com, her poetry website.
- Gofundme site for Julie Moore.
Blogs and Substacks
- Tisby Substack and another Tisby Substack Kristin DuMez on Substack, May 4, 2023.
- A good summary, by Beth Barr at her substack (May 10, 2023).
Media Coverage
- Roys Report article by Bob Smietana with documents and a secret recording of Moore's conversation with her provost.
- religionNewscom article (May 3, 2023) and the Indiana Public Radio aricle of May 2023.
- article in Axios.com, May 4, 2023.
Spiegel, James (Taylor philosophy)
Not a cancelling, just a Christian college firing a conservative tenured professor for being too Christian.
- "Philosophy Professor Fired After Posting Song on YouTube," Daily Nous (2020).
Individual's Pages
- Gordon Klein and Joshua Katz and Mark McPhail pages
How to Resist
- Pedro Domingos, Quillette (2021)
- Dorian Abbot, Quillette (2021).
Miscellaneous
- "what-princeton-professors-really-think-about-defining-racism," The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf.
- Michelle Malkin banned from AirBnB, February 2022.
- “Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—-better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.” Proverbs 27:10
- The Party is Cancelled," Emma Green, The New Yorker, Pamela Paresky's Gathering of the Thought Criminals (2023).
- "Critical Race Theory and the ‘Hyper-White’ Jew," Sapir, Pamela Paresky (2021).
Girondins
- Diane Klein
- Mark McPhail
- Julie Moore
Commentary on Cancellings Generally
- "The-second-great-age-of-political-correctness" Reason (Dec.2021).
- Level 2 and 3 Witch Hunts
2021 and 2019, Paul Graham:
"We can classify witch hunts by how long such paths can be. E.g. in a level 3 witch hunt, you can be targeted for defending someone who defended someone who was targeted. I saw that happen in 2020. I don't think I've seen 4 hops yet though.
It happened to me. A mob came after me when I tweeted this because they thought I was defending Stallman for defending Minsky. (Actually I wasn't. Stallman just happened to be one of two people getting cancelled then.)"
Sep 17, 2019
"If we extended human lifespans sufficiently, everyone would be cancelled. The drift in moral fashion would ensure that even those most carefully orthodox in their opinions would have said something that later became heretical."
2019 had 245 comments and 105 quote retweets and 2K Likes.
Dorian Abbot (MIT, 2021)
- "Campaign to endorse the Chicago Principles on freedom of expression," list of MIT faculty who signed.
- The MIT Free Speech Alliance, an alumni group formed in response to the Abbot cancellation.
- mit-community-rallies-behind-chicago-statement-after-dorian-abbot-disinvitation/," FIRE (November 2021).
- Harald Uhlig Tweet on Ivan Werning not signing.
- The MIT Free Speech page.
Babak Babakinejad(MIT, Media Lab, 2019)
Babak wasn't cancelled at all, but I am sympathetic to him. He is a whistleblower at MIT who has sued MIT.
- "M.I.T. Media Lab, Already Rattled by... ," The New York Times (2019).
- "Four stories that illustrate why whistleblowers need more protection," Times Higher Education, May 24, 2023, Mark Geoghegan.
- "Babak Babakinejad was the research lead on the now disbanded OpenAg (Open Agriculture) project at MIT’s Media Lab (formerly sponsored by Jeffrey Epstein). The project was an open-source food computer meant to revolutionise the hydroponic growth of food, and MIT claimed (falsely) that it was deployed in a refugee camp. Babak queried the legitimacy of the claims and alleged that waste containing many times the legal limit of nitrogen was being dumped into groundwater, potentially contaminating private wells. For Babak, the worst low was when, while on medical leave after suffering panic attacks, his attorney reported that the MIT lawyer told him, “Good luck to his career if he decides to sue MIT”."
- "Judge in whistleblower lawsuit against MIT hears pre-trial arguments," Boston Business Journal, Don Seiffert (Feb. 7, 2023).
Boudreau (Central Michigan, 2021)
- A FOIA request got the settlement agreement. See Volokh Conspiracy.
Prof. Boudreau, who was represented by a lawyer from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, withdrew any claims he might have against CMU, retired from CMU (he was apparently eligible for retirement), and in exchange received 10 months' salary and benefits (from Sept. 1, 2020 when he had been fired, to June 30, 2021, the end of this academic year).
5. Dr. Boudreau shall be paid in a lump sum, less normal withholding taxes the value of pay and CMU's contribution to benefits through June 30, 2021 within thirty (30) days of this settlement. A W-2 will be issued for this payment.
15. Dr. Boudreau agrees that the terms of this Release, including the payment made hereunder, are confidential and shall not be divulged to any third party except his spouse, tax advisor, CPA, wealth manager, and/or his attorneys who shall be advised of this confidentiality provision. Dr. Boudreau shall not be held liable for breach of this confidentiality clause in the event he is compelled via subpoena to under oath in court of law regarding details or terms of his severance and/or settlement agreement provided that he gives prompt notice to the CMU's General Counsel so CMU has the opportunity to object to the subpoena.
16. In the event that Dr. Boudreau violates any aspect of this Agreement, he acknowledges that said breach shall cause damage to CMU. The parties understand that CMU may have to reveal the terms pursuant to FOIA unrelated to any request by the Union or Dr. Boudreau, who agree not to make, encourage, or otherwise participate in such request.
19. Dr. Boudreau shall not, by oral or written expression or any other act of communication to any third party, by name, disparage, criticize, or impugn the reputation or character of CMU's curent or former Board of Trustees members, Board of Trustees, administrators, directors, other employees,eagents and representatives, both individually and in their official capacities (Releas6s). This provision shall not be construed to prohibit Dr. Boudreau from communicating his disagreement with CMU's decision to terminate his employment for the way he spoke various words including the "n-word", his criticism of CMU's decision and generally his beliefs and opinion on the efficacy of his teaching methods. Dr. Boudreau further agrees that this provision concerning non-disparagement is a material condition ofthe consideration contained herein, that this provision is an essential part of this Agreement, and that any violation ofthe terms ofthis paragraph shall be deemed a material breach of the entire Agreement.
21. Dr. Boudreau agrees that this Agreement shall be binding and inure to the benefit of his successors, executors, administrators, personal representatives and assigns, and to the benefit of the predecessors, successors, and assigns of the Releasees, and further agrees and acknowledges that this Agreement contains and comprises the entire agreement and understandings of the parties, and that there are no additional promises or terms of this Agreement, other than those contained within this document and the documents referenced herein.
23. If any provision of this Agreement shall for any reason be held invalid, illegal, unenforceable, or in conflict with any law governing this Agreement, the validity of the remaining portions of this Agreement shall not be affected but shall continue in full legal force and effect to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Observations:
- (1) He can talk about the incident he was fired for.
- (2) He can disparage the University, just not the various individuals who are to blame for any university scandals he may reveal.
- (3) The University and its officials are free to disparage him however much they want.
- (4) No damages are specified for breach of the clause. He is paid his settlement money within 30 days, and there are no liquidated damages. Presumably the damages would be the default of expectation damages, which in this case would be like defamation damages except he would be liable for harm caused even by truthful statements about public figures.
Sara Braasch (Leftwing Yale Graduate Student who called the police when she found a strange black woman sleeping outside her dorm room, 2018)
Amy Chua (Yale Law). See the Amy Chua page.
Trent Colbert: The Trap House Party (Yale Law). See the Trent Colbert page.
Jed DeVaro ( Cal State-East Bay econ)
- "Professors not immune to gender inequality: Jung Sook You, CSUEB," The Pioneer, November 30, 2020).
Roland Fryer (Harvard econ, 2019)
- "Harvard, the NY Times and the #MeToo Takedown of a Black Academic Star," Stuart Taylor Jr., RealClearInvestigations, January 29, 2019.
- "The Lynching of Roland Fryer," Substack (2021).
Scott Gerber (Law, Ohio Northern, 2023)
- "DEI Brings Kafka to My Law School: Ohio Northern University is trying to banish me for lack of ‘collegiality’ but won’t say what I’ve done," Scott Gerber, Wall Street Journal.
University of Iowa
- [https://www.campusreform.org/article?id=18597 "University ordered to pay almost $2 million after students win religious freedom lawsuit
The University of Iowa was recently ordered to pay $1.9 million after two student groups sued the school.] The lawsuits were filed originally in 2017 and 2018."]
Timothy Jackson, North Texas, Musicology. See the Timothy Jackson page.
Katz, Joshua (Princeton Classics, 2022)
See the Joshua Katz page.
Kilborn, Jason
Kilborn told Campus Reform that his classes “were cancelled for the entire semester on the very first day of class. He said he also had to undergo “an agonizing several-week period of ‘administrative leave,’” during which he was “barred from campus and prevented from participating in normal faculty communications and activities, including my elected position on the university promotion and tenure committee.”
Kilborn said he was compelled to submit to three hours of mental examination and a drug test by university doctors and a social worker, broken into two segments spanning the course of a week.
Chad KIMBALL (Broadway actor, 2021)
Brian KLATTMAN (Lehigh, 2021)
- "Visiting math professor removed from the classroom following social media posts brought to university’s attention ," GABRIELLE FALK,NOVEMBER 9, 2021, The Brown and White.
Diane Klein (LaVerne, Chapman)
- "Law professor says university fired her by ‘racializing’ criticism of black colleague’s performance," CHRISTIAN LUBKE (AUGUST 26, 2020).
In a meeting on the future of the law school last fall, Klein told colleagues that they must decide “whether we are willing to assassinate” Assistant Dean Jendayi Saada, who runs the Center for Academic and Bar Readiness.
- Insider Higher Education article.
- Petition from Laverne faculty in support of KLein.
- Chapman Law teaching schedule.
Gordon Klein, UCLA, Anderson School, Accounting (2020). See the Gordon Klein page.
Walter Lewin (MIT)
This is an odd one. I haven't figure it out yet.
[https://thetech.com/2014/12/09/walterlewin-v134-n60 "MIT cuts ties with Walter Lewin after online harassment probe Institute revokes emeritus title, removes online courses of popular physics professor who starred in viral videos"] The Tech (2014).
Jamie Lund (St. Mary's Law) (2013)
- Above the Law guessing as to the true identity of a "sociopath". It looks like she was mistreated.
John MacAdams (Marquette, 2018)
"John McAdams, political science professor who took Marquette to the state Supreme Court, dies," Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 15, 2021.
Meriwether (Ohio, gender pronouns)
See Meriwether Case of Administration Persecution. Not a cancelling case, really, if I remember right; a wokeness case, though.
Morris, Evan (2022)
- "Treatment for the Cancel Culture Virus? A Fantastic Voyage|To slow the spread of the epidemic on campus, one perhaps should take “The Raquel Welch Rapid Test”," American Spectator. Morris is a MFSA member.
Richard Paxton (Pacific U., 2021, fired)
Pesta, Bryan (Cleveland State Management, 2022)
- EJMR thread that talks about the grad student who got him fired.
- Give Send Go appeal for him.
- The MDPI paper that got Pesta fired.
- Docket for Pesta v. Cleveland State.
Steve Sailer, Taki's Magazine (Aug 25, 2021). On skin tone and IQ.
- "Tenured Professor Bryan J. Pesta Sues for Being Fired for His Breakthrough Study of the Causes of the Racial Gap in Average IQ," Unz Review, Sailer Blog, Steve Sailer (March 16, 2023). This excerpts a lot of the Complaint.
Joseph Petry (Illinois)
- Feb. 28, 2020 University Report online.
- June 11, 2020 News Release by Thies-Webber.
- January 27, 2021 News Release by Thies-Webber after winning on the motion to dismiss, with the Complaint and Motion to Dismiss and Objection to the Motion to Dismiss and Decision. This is the key document.
- Jan 28, 2021 "Ex-professor's breach-of-contract suit against UI can proceed, judge decides," Ben Zigterman [email protected],.
- FEBRUARY 9, 2021, "Judge approves professor’s lawsuit against university for baseless grades-for-sex investigation," HENRY KOKKELER - WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY. This is a very informative article.
Stephen Porter (NC State, 2021)
"“Death by a Thousand Cuts”: Professor Files Lawsuit Against NC State University," Inside Higher Education, Oct. 11, 2021, Shannon Watkins.
Judge Pryor (2021)
- Attack on him by Dorf on Law for hiring a clerk who sent an anti-black tweet once a few years ago.
J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law, 2020). See the J. Mark Ramseyer page.
Schulz, Gregory (Concordia-Wisconsin, 2022)
- Suspended from a Missouri Lutheran, supposedly conservative denominational college for criticizing wokeism. On the web is a confused set of notes by someone with valuable background information]
Steven Shaviro (Wayne State English)
The Shaviro case is interesting because it's a "Man Bites Dog" case: a cancellation of a leftwing professor (self-described as a "Kitsch Marxist" by rightwingers. See also Loomis at U. of Rhode Island (https://nypost.com/2020/09/11/michael-reinoehl-justified-in-shooting-of-trump-supporter-professor/).
- Shaviro's vitae.
- Shaviro's Facebook post: “I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.” He said that shouting them down is moralistic self-indulgence that just helps the victim.
- Volokh Conspiracy (March 27, 2023). Comments are not worth reading.
- Popehat support Shaviro in a good Substack. A lot of good comments, as well as a lot of stupid ones.
- Eric Rasmusen's "In Defense of Professors Who Want To Kill People, Ras-Stack (2023).
Shaw, Jodi (Smith librarian)
- Her lawsuit complaint (2021).
SKIDMORE, Mark (Michigan State, economist, 2023)
- Skidmore's Wikipedia page, his Michigan State page (with vitae), and his personal website.
- "Retraction of scientific papers: the case of vaccine research," Ety Elisha, Josh Guetzkow, Yaffa Shir-Raz & Natti Ronel, Critical Public Health (2021)
- Skidmore's page with the BJMR questions about his paper and his replies, reply-to-referee style; questions from a Chronicle of Higher Ed reporter with his replies, and six pages of "Responses to Additional Criticisms".
- David Gorski's aggressive attack on Skidmore's article.
Stock, Kathleen (Sussex, resigned under fire, 2021)
- "Free speech in peril as trans row engulfs Oxford University: In a letter to The Telegraph, dons warn against cancelling appearance by feminist Kathleen Stock over her gender-critical views," The Telegraph,Louisa Clarence-Smith,Education Editor (16 May 2023). The
anti-Stock letter signed by 100 or so Oxford faculty] (2023).
- "Kathleen Stock: Professor who resigned over trans rights 'witch-hunt' joins new US university: Professor Kathleen Stock says she is "delighted" to be joining the University of Austin after Sussex students ran a campaign demanding her removal," News.sky.com, Andy Hayes, news reporter (8 November 2021).
Harald UHLIG (Chicago Econ, 2020)
To: The Coeditors of the Journal of Political Economy and Director of The University of Chicago Press
We, the undersigned, call for the resignation of Harald Uhlig, the Bruce Allen and Barbara Ritzenthaler Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, as the Lead Editor of the Journal of Political Economy. Prof. Uhlig's comments published on his blog (https://bit.ly/3cN0L97) and Twitter posts dated June 8th, trivializing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and drawing parallels between the BLM movement and the Ku Klux Klan, are outrageous and unacceptable. They hurt and marginalize people of color and their allies in the economics profession; call into question his impartiality in assessing academic work on this and related topics; and damage the standing of the economics discipline in society. We do not question the right of Prof. Uhlig to make such comments, but we are strongly opposed to him holding a position of power as the editor of a prominent journal in our discipline.
- Signed by Richard Tol, Oliver Jehiel, Sharon Oster, Shelly Lundberg, Ivan Werning, David Cutler, Chris Blattman, Paul Goldsmith, Severin Borenstein, Arthur Silve, Andrew Atkeson, Scott Imberman, Jennifer Doleac, Justin Wolfers, Judith Chevalier,
- Uhlig tweet with Rasmusen comments on the MIT Free Speech petition, its signers, and its nonsigners.
Allyn Walker (Old Dominion, 2021)
- Daily Mail article, October 21, 2021.
A transgender university professor in Virginia has been placed on leave after defending pedophiles as 'Minor Attracted People' and saying they shouldn't be ostracized because they can't help their natural urges....Walker has written a book that tries to destigmatize pedophilia. It encourages people to refer to pedophiles as 'Minor Attracted People' and says they shouldn't be ostracized for their urges, which they can't help.... said that the online backlash had led to concerns for Walker's safety and that of the campus, and placing them on leave was the best course of action.
Amy Wax (Penn Law)
- "Free Speech Is Under Threat at Top Law Schools | Opinion," Newsweek, Paul Levy and Michael Poliakoff (2023).
- "A statement from Dean Ruger in response to recent comments made by Professor Wax," (January 3, 2022). He calls her (collecting epithets), "thoroughly anti-intellectual, racist, perpetuating stereotypes placing differential burdens on Asian students, faculty, and staff xenophobic, white supremacist, and sexist." But he really likes to support people in his community and to include them: "This reality sharpens and deepens our commitment to support our community as we continue to work to advance equity and inclusion." What an idiot! His field is con law, naturally.
Zimmerman, James (Nashville clarinet, 2021)
- " How Racial Anxiety Conquered an Orchestra and Crushed a Career" Aaron Sibarium, Washington Free Beacon. A black oboeist on temp status because of his musicial weakness was hired by breaking the rules and not having fellow musicians vote on him. A clarinetist, James Zimmerman, who had advocated for his temporary trial and gotten him the job, was assigned to help him. He resented that, and with another musician, accused Zimmerman of stalking them and got Zimmerman fired. The Board boasted about it, and the Union refused to support him.