Elite college donor pledges funding, calls on president to resign over diversity, equity and inclusion

A Cornell trustee and donor emeritus announced in a letter Tuesday that he would withdraw funds and called on the president to resign while criticizing the school's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

Cornell's engagement with DEI is “wrong” and has dishonored the university, Jon Lindseth wrote in the letter to the Board of Trustees and President Kraig Kayser. He pledged to freeze contributions until the school “reframes its approach to education” by eliminating “DEI groupthink” and called for the resignation of university president Martha Pollack.

“The administration's lack of recognition, responsibility or accountability in addressing the main threats now facing the University has left me, as one of its appointed advisors, with the disappointing task of calling for the resignation of President Martha Pollack,” Lindseth wrote. “Provost Michael Kotlikoff should also resign for his close involvement in the denigration of Cornell's academic legacy under DEI.”

He also wrote that he “has spent years listening to the stories of Cornell and its leadership, participating as a student, and sponsoring and funding some of the earlier exemplary work of the University, including the Library,” but that he “can no longer make general contributions until that the university reformulates its approach to education by replacing DEI groupthink with Cornell's original noble intent.

“Cornell's embrace of DEI, as embodied in its new Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Outcomes, has helped or will help breed an oppressive monoculture, inappropriate political activism, and an environment of fear and intimidation in campus while denigrating the merit-based foundations of our campus. university,” he continued. “Faculty, staff, and students are afraid to voice their opinions for fear of punishment and ostracism from the Administration, the teachers and colleagues”.

Donors have dropped out of several major universities after a surge antisemitism on campuses

Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Latest messages from Brandon Poulter (see everything)

We have zero tolerance for comments that contain violence, racism, profanity, profanity, doxing, or rude behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it, click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for engaging with us in a fruitful conversation.