Written by Amanda Angulo
At the University of California, Berkeley, a professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences turned in his resignation in protest after his colleagues rejected his suggestion to invite a speaker to campus due to his views on George Floyd’s death.
In a Twitter threat, David Romps posted, “I hold BASC and its faculty – my friends and colleagues – in the highest regard, and so it has been a great honor to serve as BASC’s director these past five years. But it was never my intention to lead an organization that is political or even ambiguously so.” Romps was the director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center, or BASC.
He will officially be leaving his position by the end of the year or once the school finds a replacement. Romps continued to tweet, “I was hoping we could agree that BASC does not consider an individual’s political or social opinions when selecting speakers for its events, except for cases in which the opinions give a reasonable expectation that members of our community would be treated with disrespect.” He went on to explain this, at large, threatens the research and work of scientists overall.
This all started due to Professor Romps suggesting and pushing for Dorian Abbot to speak on campus, but was denied. Dorian Abbot was disinvited from an MIT lecture after an outrage sparked over his YouTube video series where he “argued for the importance of treating each person as an individual worthy of dignity and respect” after the riots in the summer of 2020. Abbot also published an op-ed in Newsweek where he and a colleague criticized the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program since it, ” violates the ethical and legal principle of equal treatment”. Abbot is a professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and blasted the riots that happened after the death of George Floyd. Abbot published an opinion piece on Bari Weiss’ blog where he criticized cancel culture and encouraged people to stand up to the mob.
While MIT and Berkley will not admit to denying Abbot to speak at their lectures, Princeton has welcomed him to a virtual lecture with thousand expected attendees.
Photo Cred: Getty Images
