MIT alumni angry that 'wokeness' is damaging school's quality, interview reveals

In a recent opinion piece, two Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni slammed the university for their acceptance of leftism — leading to a diminished educational quality at the elite school. 

“The current MIT administration has caved repeatedly to the demands of ‘wokeness,’ treating its students unfairly, compromising the quality of its staff, and damaging the institution and academic freedom at large,” Tom Hafer and Henry I. Miller wrote in City Journal last month.

Miller told Campus Reform that fellow alumni are reacting favorably and that he had “received more than a dozen positive responses directly by email from MIT alums.” 

None have been negative, according to the scholar. 

Meanwhile, “not a peep from MIT,” Miller said. 

Both Haffer and Miller belong to MIT Free Speech Alliance. 

As Campus Reform covered in recent years, MIT has promoted a “citizenship expert” who believes the concept itself is “racist” and biased against women; adopted a land acknowledgement statement stating that its property belongs to various Native American tribes; and mandated diversity, equity, and inclusion training — which Hafer and Miller “deplore.”

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“The compulsory videos contain deftly worded but fatuous questions implying that straight white males are at the ‘intersection’ of all oppressive behaviors,” Hafer and Miller wrote. “Everyone else is an oppressed victim, with extra points for being a member of multiple minority groups. Thus, the concept of ‘intersectionality’ is a kind of conspiracy theory of victimization.”

Hafer and Miller also denounced MIT’s firing of its Roman Catholic chaplain following his examination of George Floyd’s death — namely, that Floyd “had not lived a virtuous life” and that the nation could not confirm that the incident was based in racism.

“It was a sincere examination of conscience from a person whose job it was to examine conscience, yet it prompted his immediate dismissal,” they said.

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The authors — who formerly donated to the university — wrote that MIT can regain their confidence by affirming that “a person’s ethnicity or skin color does not define him or her as a racist, oppressor, or victim,” “intellectual ability and achievement are the principal requirements for admission as a student or faculty member to any university,” and “diversity of opinions is desired and supported.”

Campus Reform reached out to MIT for comment; this article will be updated accordingly. Campus Reform made best efforts to reach Hafer, but was unable to do so.